Bookkeeping automation provider Botkeeper announced Thursday a $42 million Series C financial raise led by Grand Oaks Capital, an investment firm established by Paychex founder and chairman Tom Golisano. Concurrent with the latest funding, Golisano will also take a seat on Botkeepr’s six-member board of directors.
Founded in 2015, Botkeeper’s tech utilizes artificial intelligence and outsourcing to provide automated bookkeeping solutions to accounting firms. The platform aims to cut down on time spent on tasks typically deemed repetitive and predictable like transaction categorization and reconciliations. For those tasks, machine learning and software is implemented – for more complex problems, Botkeeper accountants are brought in.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with and learn from someone as legendary as Tom. This partnership, the capital, and adding Tom to our board will help accelerate our growth and product strategy,” said Enrico Palmerino, Botkeeper’s CEO and founder.
Founder, former CEO and current chairman of Paychex, Golisano began the payroll and HR company in 1971 and – alongside his political and philanthropic track record – is now worth a whopping $5.5 billion. Golisano’s business strategy centered on selling automated payroll, then later automated human resources and 401K offerings, many of which were offered to businesses directly through accounting firms.
“I’m excited to be part of the next phase of Botkeeper’s growth. Enrico has built an incredibly disruptive company that has a tremendous amount of market potential,” said Golisano.
In fact, Botkeeper has seen rapid growth since launch, having expanded its services to approximately 200+ accounting firms and 5000+ small businesses throughout the United States. With fresh funding, it plans to expand even further beyond, utilizing its funds for platform expansion, boosting customer success teams and more strategic partnerships.
In July, the fintech partnered with Vic.AI, an artificial intelligence platform that uses machine learning to help accountants, CFOs, controllers, and accounts payable (AP) teams perform autonomous tasks. Prior to that, the fintech joined forces with Xero to use its cloud accounting platform to deliver services. Through the partnership, Xero client data is fed into the Botkeeper automated bookkeeping platform and reconciliation is performed as Botkeeper’s bots learn the data.
“We remain hyper-focused on delivering solutions to accountants and the industry as a whole that maximize capacity, increase accuracy, assist with retention, accelerate growth, and improve client experience,” Palmerino said.