Press release: Countingup closes £9.1 million Series A investment

The business account that simplifies bookkeeping for the self-employed has attracted global interest; Framework Venture Partners is leading the round, joined by Gresham House Ventures and Sage.

Countingup, the business current account with built-in accounting software, today announced the close of a £9.1 million Series A investment round, led by Framework Venture Partners and joined by Gresham House Ventures, Sage, and existing investors. The funding will be used to drive product innovation, growth and team expansion.

Countingup is an innovative fintech company that offers a business current account with built-in accounting software. The two-in-one app simplifies bookkeeping and taxes for the self-employed as well as accountants across the UK.

Trusted by over 34,000 customers, the unique app automates the time-consuming aspects of bookkeeping and taxes and encourages good recordkeeping, making it easier to run a small business. In addition, customers can easily share accurate, real-time bookkeeping data with their accountants – eliminating the pains of re-authorisation requests, data lags, duplicates, and inaccuracies.

Tim Fouracre, CEO and Founder of Countingup, said: “We are delighted to have the backing of experienced investors on our journey to becoming the ultimate financial tool for the self-employed”, adding that “This funding round is helping fuel our product roadmap, including the launch of our digital tax filing service, which aims to be a huge help to small businesses as new Making Tax Digital regulations come into effect from April 2023.”

Peter Misek, Founding Partner of Framework Venture Partners, said “Countingup is the one fintech out of the hundreds Framework has met that truly removes massive friction faced by entrepreneurs everyday. Entrepreneurs wake up everyday doing what they love and Countingup helps them do just that. No entrepreneur ever says “Can’t wait to do my bookkeeping! Can’t wait to do my taxes!” By using Countingup, all the drudgery of a small business vanishes. We believe Countingup can free the United Kingdom’s small business from this one inevitable fact of life and bring a little happiness back. After the year we’ve all had small businesses deserve Countingup!”

Henry Alty, Investment Director at Gresham House Ventures, said: “Countingup has built a fantastically simple way of allowing small businesses to automatically handle their admin, and is led by Tim who has over a decade’s experience in doing just that. This fits perfectly with Gresham House’s focus on the automation of financial services for traditionally under-served SMEs, and delivers real social benefits by encouraging the growth of small businesses. We look forward to supporting Countingup as it continues to scale.”

Neal Watkins, EVP, Small Business Segment at Sage, said: “Investing in high growth SaaS businesses is core to our strategy to enable small businesses and accountants to survive and thrive. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the start-up journey in a new way as businesses explore the benefits of bringing accounting and financial services together. We are excited to partner with and support Countingup’s deeply experienced senior leadership team.”

The investment will drive Countingup’s product innovation. With an accelerated financial services roadmap, the team is excited to further help small business owners save time, money and confidently manage their business admin – giving them valuable time back to focus on what they love and do best.

About Countingup

Founded in 2017 by Tim Fouracre, Countingup is the business current account with built-in accounting software. The two-in-one app simplifies bookkeeping and taxes, helping self-employed people save time and money. By creating one central location for their financial data, small business owners can easily keep an accurate record of receipts, invoices, statements and bills. With automatic expense categorisation, invoice matching and digital tax filings coming soon, Countingup aims to be the all-in-one financial tool for self-employed people. For more information, visit:https://qa.countingup.com/ or contact Countingup: press@Countingup.com

About Framework Venture Partners

Framework Venture Partners is a software-focused venture capital firm that combines a unique data-driven investment process with a collaborative engagement model with the mission of helping entrepreneurs build and scale world-class companies. Led by co-founders and partners, Peter Misek and Andrew Lugsdin, who combined bring more than 35 years of domestic and international VC experience, Framework Venture Partners invests in software companies with a focus on businesses re-imagining the consumption and delivery of financial services, or applying artificial intelligence solutions to large industry-specific datasets. For more information, visit http://www.framework.vc

About Gresham House and Gresham House Ventures

Gresham House Ventures is a growth equity investor specialised in scaling businesses with business models driven by technology, customer insight or service excellence. Gresham House Ventures aims to work with ambitious management teams who want the support of a flexible long-term investor who brings capital, insight and expertise. The team has been working together for over 10 years and has made over 100 investments into growth businesses. Gresham House Asset Management is the FCA authorised operating business of Gresham House plc, a London Stock Exchange quoted specialist alternative asset manager. Gresham House is committed to operating responsibly and sustainably, taking the long view in delivering sustainable investment solutions. For more information, visit www.greshamhouseventures.com

About Sage

Sage is the global market leader for technology that provides small and medium businesses with the visibility, flexibility and efficiency to manage finances, operations and people. With our partners, Sage is trusted by millions of customers worldwide to deliver the best cloud technology and support. Our years of experience mean that our colleagues and partners understand how to serve our customers and communities through the good, and more challenging times. We are here to help, with practical advice, solutions, expertise and insight. For more information, visit www.sage.com