Usually profitable startups may give rise to ‘startup mafias’ – teams of former founders who go on to create different startups. However no less than as typically, new startups might be based by workers. Within the case of LiveFlow, that’s precisely what occurred — and it’s now raised $13.5 million.
Just a few years in the past, Anita Koimur led the Rewards Product for Fintech unicorn Revolut, whereas Lasse Kalkar was its nation supervisor for the Nordic area.
After assembly, they stored in contact, and later, as co-founders, got here up with the concept of LiveFlow, taking it by means of the Y Combinator accelerator, and later elevating a Seed spherical in 2021.
LiveFlow permits corporations to sync real-time information from their accounting companies, banks, and fee platforms into their customized experiences, thereby automating workflows, consolidating firm accounts, and permitting extra company-wide collaboration. You would possibly suppose that sounds straightforward, however even nowadays, it’s nonetheless a world the place accountants are having to switch information between programs, typically manually.
However as enterprise platforms step by step eat into the workflows of accountants, many are selecting to depart the business, particularly now AI begins to strip away jobs for people. And the proof is mounting.
Greater than 300,000 U.S. accountants and auditors left their jobs between 2019 and 2021, and the variety of accountants within the U.S. has fallen 15.9% since 2019, in response to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the meantime, youthful accountants aged 25 to 34 and mid-career professionals aged 45 to 54 are leaving the career.
LiveFlow hopes to not hasten that stream, however to stem it. CEO, Kalkar, instructed TechCrunch that: “Our plan is to make the most of AI to make to make accounting companies extra environment friendly, however we expect the accountant will nonetheless be there.”
So why is that?
“Mainly,” mentioned Kalkar, “small companies, rent an accountant to really feel secure. They need to know that somebody has their again. We are able to’t exchange that totally with expertise.”
That mentioned, Kalkar was coy about what precise variety’ve AO the corporate plans to make use of: “It’s nonetheless within the roadmap, and it’ll nonetheless be rolled out over the subsequent 12 months or so… We aren’t disclosing which AI we’re utilizing proper now, sorry.”
No matter they’re doing, it appears to be working.
The startup has now raised a $13.5 million Sequence A funding spherical led by Valar Ventures. The VC was co-founded by Peter Thiel, and was the the primary enterprise fund to spend money on Xero and, later, TransferWise.
Joined by former Net Summit engineering lead Evan O’Brien, Koimur and Kalkar now plan to develop within the US, primarily based out of New York.
And the corporate now counts accounting companies like BDO and KLR, in addition to manufacturers Wendy’s and Crumbl Cookies as prospects.
Its latest product, LiveFlow Subsequent, is designed to assist accounting do extra advisory work.
In an announcement Valar’s Founding Associate James Fitzgerald commented: “LiveFlow helps save numerous hours per 30 days whereas additionally eliminating human error.”
Though LiveFlow does have opponents, none look like venture-backed proper now. Fathom, out of Australia, does one thing comparable, though it seems to not have raised VC funding, whereas Attain Reporting within the US is in an identical place, in response to Cruchbase.
