Accounting software Pennylane joins unicorn club after €40M raise

Pennylane has been on a funding streak, securing another €40M, boosting their total raises to €154M over the last few years.

• Rapid Expansion: The company has quickly become the principal software choice for over 2,000 accounting firms, showing particularly strong growth in France with 120,000 SMEs depending on their services.

• Exponential Growth: Pennylane's SME user base has exploded by 40x in just two years, signaling an exceptionally high growth rate rarely seen, even in the startup world.

• Newfound Unicorn: Thanks to continued support from investors like Sequoia Capital and DST Global, Pennylane, founded by Tancrède Besnard, Felix Blossier, Thierry Deo, Edouard Mascré, Quentin de Metz, Alexandre Roquoplo, and Arthur Waller, has now joined the unicorn club, with a valuation of just over a billion euros.

• Innovation and Integration: Pushing beyond simple accounting software, Pennylane integrates with third-party services, employs OCR technology for data entry efficiency, and offers fintech products such as professional banking and payment cards within its platform. Approximately 20% of their customers also hold a bank account with the company.

• AI-Driven Innovations: Pennylane is also exploring AI, using it to extract insights from accounting data and to assist accountants with complex rules – essentially an accounting co-pilot.

Even with substantial funding, the startup's goal is to achieve profitability within the next 12 to 18 months, a prudent move for any company, especially one that specializes in financial management.