Countingup scores £4M bridge round for its small business banking and accounting app

via TechCrunch

Countingup, the business current account that “automates” your accounting, has raised £4 million in self-described bridge funding. Leading the round is ING Ventures, with co-investment from Triple Point, CVentures, and BiG Start Ventures.

Founded by Tim Fouracre, who previously founded cloud accounting software Clear Books, and now boasting 20,000 business customers, Countingup’s long term vision is to be the one “financial hub” for the 1 million or so U.K.-based micro businesses.

Its initial ‘attack vector’ is to combine a business bank account with bookkeeping features to help automate the filing of accounts — a major time sink and pain-point for sole traders and small businesses.

Small businesses can open a Countingup business current account on their smartphone “in under 5 minutes,” which includes typical banking and accounting features. In addition, Countingup recently launched its “Accountant Hub,” a web-based accounting system that helps accountants manage and collaborate with their SME clients.

“If you are running a business then bookkeeping is a chore, wastes your time and is boring,” the Countingup up founder told me back in 2017. “Your bank surprises you with hidden fees and you’ve probably lost faith in their customer service. Countingup is making starting and running a business really simple… We’re doing that by combining accounting and banking into one simple smartphone app”.

In addition, Fouracre reckons Countingup’s solution will become even more relevant once HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative kicks in. In future, the U.K. tax authority will require businesses to keep digital records and submit quarterly tax filings, which is exactly the type of task the fintech has been designed to automate.

“The [new] funds will be used to accelerate the banking and accounting roadmap to make it even easier and more efficient to digitally run a small business,” says Countingup, announcing its bridge round.

Queue statement from Benoît Legrand, ING’s Chief Innovation Officer and CEO of ING Ventures: “Countingup is a game-changer for small businesses. This fintech helps in reducing costs and complexity by combining accounting and banking into one digitally disruptive solution, a new approach that makes it so much easier to run a small business. We are proud to support Countingup in delivering that vision.”