Practice Ignition, a software platform for accountants, has raised series A funding of AU$5 million from some of Australia’s leading venture capital funds and individual investors. The funds will be used to further accelerate its international expansion and deliver more product to its existing customer base.
The fundraising was led by Microequities Venture Capital Fund and includes Black Sheep Capital, Right Click Capital and existing individual investors Craig Winkler and Adrian Di Marco. It follows previous investment of AU$2.2 million in seed funding in 2014 and 2015.
Practice Ignition is an automated software as a service (SaaS) accounting platform, that helps professional accountants manage their practices in the cloud. The company has been global from inception. It now serves approximately 1,000 accounting firms worldwide, helping them work with more than 40,000 small businesses and processing AU$100 million in payments annually.
Practice Ignition powers professional services firms such as accountants to manage their practices in the cloud. Founded in Sydney in 2011 by 2014 Anthill 30under30 winner Guy Pearson when he spotted a gap in the market for a cloud-based software platform dedicated to accountancy practices, today Practice Ignition helps firms of all sizes across the globe.
Practice Ignition’s software allows users to onboard clients, process payments, automatically raise invoices and deploy workflow in connected third party applications. Practice Ignition integrates seamlessly with cloud accounting software like Xero and Quickbooks.
What does this funding mean for Practice Ignition?
“Our international strategy has paid off, with over 50 per cent of our revenue generated overseas. This new capital will enable us to ramp up product and marketing in key markets, expand our team and better serve our amazing customers,” says Guy Pearson, Founder and CEO, Practice Ignition.
Practice Ignition intends to double the size of its team from 30 to 60 people over the next two years as it expands its presence in key overseas markets. These markets include the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Following the fundraising, Howard Leibman of Microequities Venture Capital Fund and Adrian Di Marco will join the Practice Ignition board.
“We’re on a mission to help small businesses by empowering one of their most trusted partners – accountants and professional services firms – to serve them better. These firms want better data to help segment and serve clients and they want to free time up from routine tasks to focus on their clients. Practice Ignition enables this.” Pearson said.
Howard Leibman, Founder, Microequities Venture Fund said: “Practice Ignition has built an exceptional platform that delivers real value to professional service firms of all sizes. The product addresses a truly global market opportunity and, with a customer base already spanning some 20 countries, the team has clearly demonstrated its ability to scale activities well beyond Australia. We’re truly excited to be leading this financing round and look forward to working alongside Guy, Dane and their team as they continue to drive innovation in the delivery of professional services around the world.”
Benjamin Chong of Right Click Capital said, “Practice Ignition is a ‘great example’ of Australian SaaS startups gaining rapid global traction in the business-to-business space.”
“Cloud technology continues to grow and evolve rapidly. We see Practice Ignition as a frontrunner. The platform streamlines the tedious day-to-day tasks for accountants and small business owners alike, freeing their capacity to deliver better client experience.”
“The funding also gives Practice Ignition the opportunity to tap into Right Click Capital’s partnership with the Draper Venture Network. This opens doors for both investors in the Growth Fund and the businesses the fund supports. The Growth Fund will continue to focus on investing in early-stage high-growth tech businesses across Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.”
Dan Gavel, Director of Black Sheep Capital said: “Our focus is on investing in businesses that make other businesses better, and Practice Ignition is an exciting optimisation tool for professional services firms particularly in creating more efficient and effective processes. We were also attracted by the quality of Practice Ignition’s team, domain expertise is always a great asset, the traction they’ve had to date, and their vision to revolutionise the professional services industry. This latest round will allow Practice Ignition to take on global markets and provides them the opportunity to become Australia’s next SaaS success story.”
