Edinburgh fintech Float sets up Australian office after £1.5m investment
Cashflow forecasting specialist Float, which provides software for Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent, has landed a £1.5 million seed round to expand its operations.
The fintech will use the investment to build its team in Sydney, where it will open an office this month as it targets the Australian and New Zealand markets, and to refine its forecasting software.
Float plans to make 12 new hires across its Sydney, global sales, product development and marketing teams.
The investment deal, led by Marchmont Ventures, follows the formation of Float’s new C-Suite team last year and is the first time the fintech has accepted venture capital investment.
Co-founder and chief executive Colin Hewitt said: “Cash flow management is critical to the survival and success of SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises], and it remains the number one issue keeping business owners awake at night.
"We’ve seen a huge increase in demand with businesses looking for solutions to manage and forecast cash flow. As such, we’ve raised the funding required to grow our team and expand both locally and internationally.
“This demand is coming from the shift from desktop and paper-based systems to digital bookkeeping and cloud accounting solutions. Our mission is to help businesses make better financial decisions.”
Float last year launched its partnership programme as an added service for accounting firms. It aims to improve their advisory services by giving clients more control and insight into their finances, as well as increasing firms’ customer retention and revenues.
Marchmont Ventures MD Alan Martin added: "We are building an ecosystem of exciting growing companies like Float. We were struck immediately by the global market opportunity for digital accounting services, cash flow in particular, and have been really impressed by the Float product, which their users genuinely love.”