Tokyo, Japan - December 28, 2015 - freee announced today that it has raised another US$7.5 million in Series C funding from SBI Investment. Including this Series C funding, freee has now raised an aggregate of US$ 37.5 million in 2015 which makes freee the highest funded IT startups of 2015 in Japan.
About freee:
freee launched its software service in March 2013 with the aim of helping SMBs to focus on their creative activities, by simplifying back office tasks such as accounting and payroll management. freee’s cloud-based accounting software was released in March 2013, followed by its cloud-based payroll software in May 2014. In 2015, freee has launched “Kaisha Setsuritsu freee”, software to support incorporating new business, and “My Number freee” which allows SMBs to meet the regulatory needs for new social security and tax number regulation. freee currently has over 400,000 SMB users and over 2000 accounting firms, and in August 2015 was chosen by a 3rd party research agent* as the No. 1 cloud-based accounting software in Japan by market share.
* Seed Planning “Cloud-based accounting sofrware research results”
freee is increasing its strategic partners to accelerate business areas. In December 2015, freee has announced a partnership with 11 financial institutions in Japan, including Mizuho Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, to seek for new financial services for SMBs. freee has launched a new beta service that would enable financial institutions to access SMB’s accounting data with their permission. freee would further accelerate its partnership in other areas and develop new services and products to bring innovation to SMBs. In order to achieve this goal, freee has decided to raise capital to further increase its headcount.
freee believes that 2016 is a turning point for business process with the “My Number” system (Social Security and Tax Number system) and electronic form storage law in place. freee would respond and provide the best solution for new regulations in order to save SMBs from time-consuming back-office tasks so they can focus on their creative activities.
Company Description
freee provides an automated cloud-based accounting software that synchronizes with users' bank accounts and automatically categorizes book entries to create financial reports and tax filing documents. The accounting service was launched in Mar 2013 and a cloud-based payroll service was launched in October 2014. freee K.K. was founded in July 2012 under the leadership of Daisuke Sasaki, who previously headed Google’s SMB marketing in the Asia Pacific region. freee is the winner of Infinity Ventures Summit Launch Pad 2013 Spring, the most prestigious start-up demo event in Japan.
For more information,
contact:
Mami Nitatori
tel: +81-80-2069-8126
mail: pr@freee.co.jp