Edinburgh fintech Float seeks funds for global expansion

An Edinburgh-based cashflow forecasting specialist has international growth on the horizon after it completes a seven-figure funding round.

'Theres so much more for us to push into,' says Colin Hewitt. Picture: Andrea Thomson Photography.

Float, which is based in the city’s CodeBase incubator and provides cashflow software for Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent, is earmarking Australia for its first base outside the UK, chief executive Colin Hewitt told Scotland on Sunday. “Our intention is really now about scaling and growth,” he said.

Hewitt said the fintech that he founded in 2010 has been global from the outset, with 35 per cent of its business coming from the UK, 25 per cent each from Australia/New Zealand and North America, and 15 per cent from the rest of the world.

The aim now is to bring in more capital, looking to raise £1 million to £2m in a seed round from parties including angel investors and very early stage venture capitalists by the end of September.

This will help fund its global expansion, with plans to open in Australia - in the second half of 2020. It is also eyeing a North American presence, with Float seeing strong growth in Canada in particular. Singapore is also on the firm’s radar.

It comes after the business – which helps companies manage their finances in real time – has now put in place a new c-suite to help grow the team. Jennifer Given has been named chief operating officer, Nick Cole chief marketing officer and Tim Leslie chief technology officer.

“We feel like we’ve got that foundation right now,” said Hewitt, who planted the seeds of the business when he came up with a spreadsheet to pay off his student debt, adapting it for business use and tapping in to the growing field of cloud accounting.

It in 2017 closed a funding round worth £500,000 from private investors, matching that figure with customer revenues – giving it £1 million to pump into the business.

The fintech has also signed up several global accountancy firms to its partnership programme – including Anderson Anderson Brown and Scott-Moncrieff. Accountants are "realising that they do need to offer more hands-on, proactive services," Hewitt said.

He added that Float's product is "coming of age" and evolving from something "people thought was a nice thing to have into more of a must-have" - and the firm is looking to boost the integrations it can build with other accounting platforms, enabling it to scale into other areas.

“It just feels like there’s so much more for us to push into as we become that central dashboard for businesses to run their financial operations.”