Accounting services firm Contabilizei announced on Thursday (10) that it has raised US$60 million in a Series C round led by SoftBank. Goldman Sachs and Pruven Capital also participated in the investment.
Vitor Torres, CEO of Contabilizei, says the goal of the round is to expand the startup's service and product offerings. Contabilizei emerged in 2013 to help micro and small business owners to open a company for free and keep their accounting up to date.
The startup acts as an accounting office, helping entrepreneurs with invoices and calculating taxes. As the company grew, Torres said he saw an opportunity to expand its products to include "helping the entrepreneur open a bank account and receive money from the client," but also helping the entrepreneur choose health insurance for himself, his family, and his employees.
The digital accounting firm has taken steps into the physical world and added phone support with service until 10pm and opened physical stores in Shopping Eldorado in São Paulo and Barra Shopping in Rio de Janeiro.
"We are expanding our reach to micro and small entrepreneurs so that they can ask questions with us for free at the mall while they have a coffee and do their shopping," explains Torres.
The idea of Contabilizei is to expand the physical stores in malls to more than 60 cities throughout Brazil.
Moving towards offering more and more financial services to its clients, Contabilizei has already launched a checking account product through a partner company. More than 40% of Contabilizei clients already have an account with the partner company, and more than 80% of new clients choose to open a current account with Contabilizei when they start their business. Torres wants this service to be Contabilizei's own, "That's the big next step for the company, to have financial solutions from Contabilizei to help the micro-entrepreneur."
Asked if the company will become a SCD (Direct Credit Society), Torres said that he is "studying the models and today the path is still defined".
The dispute for the financial services market aimed at legal entities has grown in Brazil, with Cora, Conta Simples and Clara. "Obviously, we will end up touching some points of the market, but always keeping in mind that our main service is with our client, helping to manage all their administrative and financial back-office", said Torres.
The company has more than 30 thousand clients, while the more than 70 thousand accounting offices in Brazil serve an average of 80 to 100 clients, according to the CEO.
Contabilizei has more than 900 accountants and with the investment the startup should exceed 1,300 employees. The startup charges a monthly fee with plans from R$ 96 to R$ 350, depending on the size of the company in terms of turnover volume.
"Our focus is on micro and small companies, which are 90% of the 17 million companies," explains Torres. Among the startup's plans for the coming years is an IPO in Brazil, because, according to the CEO, Contabilizei works with a strictly Brazilian problem.
"The micro and small businessman contributes to more than 30% of the GDP, generates more than 50% of the formal labor force. If this micro and small businessman succeeds, the country will succeed. This is our great purpose.
Contabilizei does not disclose revenues, but said it grows twice a year. According to Torres, the accounting office in SaaS (Software as a Service) format differs from other software companies because it "positions itself much more as the right arm of the micro and small businessman.
"We help them on their journey in an ethical way and believe in a long-term relationship. We employ a lot of technology, which allows us to spend more time with our client and less on manual tasks.
Accounting services firm Contabilizei announced on Thursday (10) that it has raised US$60 million in a Series C round led by SoftBank. Goldman Sachs and Pruven Capital also participated in the investment.
Vitor Torres, CEO of Contabilizei, says the goal of the round is to expand the startup's service and product offerings. Contabilizei emerged in 2013 to help micro and small business owners to open a company for free and keep their accounting up to date.
The startup acts as an accounting office, helping entrepreneurs with invoices and calculating taxes. As the company grew, Torres said he saw an opportunity to expand its products to include "helping the entrepreneur open a bank account and receive money from the client," but also helping the entrepreneur choose health insurance for himself, his family, and his employees.
The digital accounting firm has taken steps into the physical world and added phone support with service until 10pm and opened physical stores in Shopping Eldorado in São Paulo and Barra Shopping in Rio de Janeiro.
"We are expanding our reach to micro and small entrepreneurs so that they can ask questions with us for free at the mall while they have a coffee and do their shopping," explains Torres.
The idea of Contabilizei is to expand the physical stores in malls to more than 60 cities throughout Brazil.
Moving towards offering more and more financial services to its clients, Contabilizei has already launched a checking account product through a partner company. More than 40% of Contabilizei clients already have an account with the partner company, and more than 80% of new clients choose to open a current account with Contabilizei when they start their business. Torres wants this service to be Contabilizei's own, "That's the big next step for the company, to have financial solutions from Contabilizei to help the micro-entrepreneur."
Asked if the company will become a SCD (Direct Credit Society), Torres said that he is "studying the models and today the path is still defined".
The dispute for the financial services market aimed at legal entities has grown in Brazil, with Cora, Conta Simples and Clara. "Obviously, we will end up touching some points of the market, but always keeping in mind that our main service is with our client, helping to manage all their administrative and financial back-office", said Torres.
The company has more than 30 thousand clients, while the more than 70 thousand accounting offices in Brazil serve an average of 80 to 100 clients, according to the CEO.
Contabilizei has more than 900 accountants and with the investment the startup should exceed 1,300 employees. The startup charges a monthly fee with plans from R$ 96 to R$ 350, depending on the size of the company in terms of turnover volume.
"Our focus is on micro and small companies, which are 90% of the 17 million companies," explains Torres. Among the startup's plans for the coming years is an IPO in Brazil, because, according to the CEO, Contabilizei works with a strictly Brazilian problem.
"The micro and small businessman contributes to more than 30% of the GDP, generates more than 50% of the formal labor force. If this micro and small businessman succeeds, the country will succeed. This is our great purpose.
Contabilizei does not disclose revenues, but said it grows twice a year. According to Torres, the accounting office in SaaS (Software as a Service) format differs from other software companies because it "positions itself much more as the right arm of the micro and small businessman.
"We help them on their journey in an ethical way and believe in a long-term relationship. We employ a lot of technology, which allows us to spend more time with our client and less on manual tasks.