Doug, a French accounting startup, has been around since 2015. It already generates $16.4 million (€15 million) in annual recurring revenue. And it’s an established company, which means it hasn’t opened its capital and hasn’t raised funding from venture capital firms. But now, the company has decided to raise its first round of funding.
Dougs raised $27 million (€25 million) from Shipping growth capitala British VC firm that is looking for investment opportunities in established companies that have reached a certain level of maturity. And Dougs seems to fit the bill quite well since the company has 14,000 customers and is already profitable.
Basically, Dougs is an online accountant service for small to medium-sized businesses. Manage your financial statements and generate certified tax returns. Behind the scenes, Dougs works with chartered accountants, legal experts, HR professionals, etc. But the company also designed its accounting application to improve the relationship between Dougs’ team and its clients.
Specifically, customers can link Dougs with their bank accounts so that the accounting platform can automatically retrieve transactions. From the customer portal, customers can upload documents, receipts and more. Dougs can also manage expense reports and invoices, which means you can use Dougs to get an overview of your company’s revenue – past, present and future.
Additionally, Dougs can facilitate the incorporation process. It can also be used for your company’s payroll. Douglass also provides legal advice when needed. In other words, startup handles all the normal tasks that would be handled by an accountant.
There are 250 people working for Dougs. With today’s funding round, the company plans to take it to the next level by doubling the size of its team by 2025. Later, the startup plans to expand into new countries, such as Germany and the UK
Dougs competes with other online accountant services, such as Keobiz, Livi, Wityetc. Some tech companies like it Penny Lane they are taking a different approach as they work with existing accounting firms to transition them from a legacy accounting software solution to a modern software-as-a-service platform.
But there is room for many businesses in this space, as accountancy firms remain extremely fragmented in France. Existing accounting firms working with old-school accounting applications remain the default option for many small and medium-sized businesses.
