Financial planning and analysis solutions provider Jirav announced $20 million worth of new funding after closing a Series B round in partnership with Cota Capital, a San Francisco-based investment company that specializes in fintech.
Jirav CEO Martin Zych noted that this latest round of funding — which he said is “millions more than we ever had in the company before” — comes amid rapid growth for the accounting tech company over just a few short years. Zych said that, just a few years ago, Jirav supported a few hundred professionals on its platform; today it sports more than 4,000. While he could not be specific as far as revenues, he added that the company has grown nearly tenfold since its Series A funding round in March 2020.
He said the company chose to work with Cota because its leaders were already familiar with the world of accounting technology and so were not acting like a venture capital fund trying to find the next Facebook. In fact the main partner, Kevin Jacques, had formerly worked with Intuit, leading its corporate development team.
Zych also pointed out that, given the state of the economy, funding in general has been difficult to come by. Being able to complete a fundraising round, especially one so large, in this environment speaks to the confidence the investment company had in them.
Jirav intends to use the funds to further support its core strategic goal of guiding customers, particularly small and midsized businesses, through these troubling economic times.
Specifically, he said the company plans to use the funding to more than double its accounting channel team to further improve the quality of support on the platform. The funding will also be applied toward accelerating R&D on its monthly updates — which includes hiring more engineers —to deliver many more large projects and initiatives than they ever could before.
Asked for an example of an expected update, Zych said the company soon plans to leverage AI to automate the account setup process in order to reduce the friction of joining the platform in the first place, part of the company’s longtime emphasis on ease of use. This is an important area of focus for Jirav, he noted, given the sheer number of users on its platform.
Finally, the company also plans to enhance its education and outreach efforts. Jirav does not just develop the technology — it also provides support services to help firms develop robust FP&A practices. This support is provided via outreach and events, as well as more dedicated programs that do things like work with firms to help them build marketing plans for their advisory practices. Through these new funds, the company aims to broaden and strengthen its efforts to build a strong educational community.
“This funding isn’t just about growth — it’s about our commitment to continuously innovate and redefine the standard for financial planning and analysis tools for accounting and finance professionals across the world,” said Zych.
The round was supported by Born Capital and Alumni Ventures and existing investors Information Venture Partners and Bluefish Ventures. In addition, Kevin Jacques from Cota Capital and Erik Asgeirsson, the CEO of CPA.com — of which Jirav is an official technology partner — will join the company’s board.
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