SAN FRANCISCO – March 17, 2019 – Airbase today announced the launch of its modern spend management platform. The groundbreaking platform was designed to solve the unique challenges today’s businesses face as they operate in a subscription economy. The Airbase platform gives companies unprecedented control and visibility over their spend lifecycle – from pre-approval of spend, to making payments, to recording every transaction in their accounting software. Airbase debuts with $7 million in Series A funding in a round led by First Round Capital.
“There has been very little innovation in this space, which has forced companies to settle for disparate, outdated solutions,” said Bill Trenchard, General Partner at First Round Capital and Airbase investor. “Airbase has taken a bold step forward to create an entirely new paradigm. It delivers a real solution to the biggest problems finance teams face as their companies grow.”
Today’s businesses rely on different systems for pre-approval of spend, corporate cards, expense reimbursement, invoice processing and ACH/check payments. This limits overall visibility and control of finances.
Airbase Founder and CEO, Thejo Kote, struggled with the existing spend management stack as he scaled his previous company, Automatic, a venture-funded startup which was acquired by SiriusXM. The experience inspired his vision of fundamentally changing how spend management is done in order for companies to grow more efficiently.
“Identifying exactly how funds are being used is complex when you’re rapidly ramping up operations,” said Kote. “We’re building a platform that makes figuring out where the money is going, and then controlling the flow, incredibly easy. We do it by replacing all the tools that usually sit between a company’s bank account and its accounting software.”
Airbase solves the problems of requests, payments and accounting together in a single integrated platform. This holistic approach lets Airbase offer control, visibility and automation where other spend management tools can’t. Now, finance teams can track and oversee exactly when, where, how, and by whom, money is spent at a fraction of the effort. Offering new levels of control and visibility, Airbase frees up funds for mission-critical investments and enables sustainable, more predictable growth.
Customers have already responded to the new paradigm Airbase brings to market. Even before its public launch, Airbase demonstrated impressive traction, acquiring a number of customers including Gusto, Doximity, Segment, Getaround, Netlify, YourMechanic, and others. These customers can attest to Airbase’s promise of eliminating over 50% of the spend-related workload as the platform unites data from different processes in one system and eliminates dozens of hours of manual work.
“Airbase has rethought how spend management should be done from the ground up,” said Sean Flynn, Controller at Gusto. “We get all the control and visibility we need while delivering an amazing experience to the entire company.”
“Airbase has transformed our workflows,” added David Coffman, Controller at Doximity. “It’s nice to have one tool to go to for everything. We get back a lot of time as we don’t have to spend hours researching what we’ve spent.”