Capital cloud specialists integrate their systems

TWO Edinburgh technology firms have joined forces in a deal that will provide small business owners with an integrated booking and accounting system.

The collaboration between cloud accounting specialist FreeAgent and online bookings start-up Appointedd will allow customers of both firms to automatically move bookings into their accounts.

Appointedd founder and chief executive Leah Hutcheon said FreeAgent had been generous with its help and support since she set up the business in 2011 and the partnership presented both with an opportunity to grow while improving their offering to customers.

“It’s been a nice friendly deal, no hardcore negotiations, just a mutually beneficial set-up,” she said.

To benefit from the system, a business has to be a customer of both firms and Hutcheon said clients of one company had already been signing up for the other in order to use the new system for the full service.

Appointedd was one of the first batch of start-ups to be selected for the Scottish Edge scheme, and recently raised £160,000 in angel investment.

Hutcheon said both Free
Agent and Appointedd “exist to do the same thing – remove the stress and boring admin from running a small business”.

“I’m so excited to hear how much time we’re saving our customers now we send all relevant data direct to their accounting package automatically,” she added.

FreeAgent chief executive Ed Molyneux said: “As an established player in Edinburgh’s start-up scene, we’re thrilled to be working alongside one of its rising stars in Appointedd – and we look forward to seeing the value that our joint integration provides to our small business and freelance customers.”