Bookkeeping platform Bokio has closed a €7.4m round and has merged with fellow Swedish accounting company Red Flag.
The investment was backed by Creandum, European financial group Svea Ekonomi and asset management firm Öhman Group.
A number of angel investors also contributed including game developer Mojang co-founder Carl Manneh, technology entrepreneur Anders Ström, angel investor Staffan Persson and Red Flag co-founders Mattias Söderhielm and Mikael Pawlo.
Mojang co-founder Carl Manneh said, “I rarely invest in tech startups, but I had to make an exception on this occasion. This was a golden opportunity to support a team of entrepreneurs who are building something that can improve society, and help more people start and run their own businesses. I look forward to seeing where the journey takes them next.”
With the capital injection, the FinTech will focus on deepening its product development and expansion efforts.
This funding round comes hot off the heels of Bokio’s former round, a €4m investment in December 2019 from which comes just months after its €4m from Creandum, Svea and Techstars managing director Chris Adelsbach.
In addition to the funding round, Bokio has merged with Red Flag in a bid to become the leading accountancy and business administration platform for European SMEs and self-employed, it stated.
The companies will combine all of their assets, people and customer contracts to create a user base of 80,000 customers spanning Sweden and the UK. As part of the deal, Bokio co-founder Viktor Stensson will maintain his role as CEO of the company.
Red Flag CEO and co-founder Mikael Pawlo will now be responsible for international growth and expansion.
Following the merger, Bokio’s customers will now also gain access to automated services for business administration.
Bokio serves as a digital assistant, supplying finance teams with support for administrative tasks such as invoicing, employee expenses, reporting and VAT returns. Its goal is to ease financial and time burdens on finance teams. Research from the Federation of Small Businesses recently claimed UK small businesses spend around three weeks and £5,000 each year for their tax reporting processes.
Bokio CEO and co-founder Viktor Stensson said, “Red Flag’s portfolio of business administration products completes our current offering to make it easier and more enjoyable for all company owners and self-employed to run their businesses. Now combining our services into one streamlined technology platform, and with Red Flag’s skilled and entrepreneurial-minded team joining Bokio, we know that we can make a real impact. I look forward to further developing the company together.”
Copyright © 2020 FinTech Global
