FreshBooks Announces Acquisition of Germany-based FastBill, Accelerating Global Expansion
Toronto, Canada, Oct. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FreshBooks, a leading cloud accounting software provider with paying customers in 160+ countries, announced today the acquisition of FastBill, one of Germany’s leading cloud accounting and invoicing software solutions. Founded in 2011 in Frankfurt, Germany, FastBill helps self-employed professionals, small businesses, and startups maintain better control of their finances through electronic invoice management, reporting, and access to tax advisory services. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
“With its complementary mission and culture, we are extremely excited about our acquisition of FastBill and how it strengthens our global expansion plans,” said Don Epperson, CEO of FreshBooks. “This acquisition, paired with FreshBooks’ leadership in streamlining and simplifying workflows for Owners around the world, will position us to better serve as many customers as we possibly can.”
FastBill currently supports paying customers in 16 different countries across Europe. Together, FreshBooks and FastBill will unlock new platform capabilities and expand into regions where the small business market is significant and growing. In 2020, small and medium-size businesses represented 99 percent of businesses in the EU, employing two out of every three jobs*.
“FreshBooks acquiring FastBill is a win for everyone. Combining forces helps us scale our offering and better support the needs of small business owners in Germany and across Europe,” said FastBill CEO and founder René Maudrich. “We are thrilled to be powered by a company that is equally obsessed with delivering for its customers.”
Upon closing, FastBill’s 30 team members, including CEO and Founder René Maudrich, will join FreshBooks’ global workforce and report to FreshBooks’ newly-hired SVP of Markets, Dragana Ljubisavljevic. Maudrich will remain CEO of FastBill, and will also assume the role of Managing Director, FreshBooks Germany, driving expansion in the region. The FastBill team will remain at its current headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.
“The adoption of digital tools for small business is a huge growth opportunity,” said Matt Baker, SVP of Corporate Development at FreshBooks. “Whether business owners have been going digital because of the recent need to diversify how they operate or because of new government regulations, having a local team in Germany strengthens our regional offerings. While evaluating the German market for accounting software, we were deeply impressed by FastBill’s technical experience and well-established client base. This made FastBill our partner of choice. ”
FreshBooks recently announced that it had raised USD $130M in funding, bringing its valuation to USD $1B. The latest round of funding and milestone valuation will be used to invest in reaching more customers, in more countries around the world with locally-relevant integrations and product enhancements.
Learn more about FreshBooks here.
* The European Commission. Entrepreneurship and Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (2020). Retrieved from the European Commission website: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes_en
About FreshBooks
FreshBooks is changing the way business owners manage their books. Its owner-first accounting platform, loved by businesses in over 160 countries, takes an easy-to-use approach to managing finances, billing, payments, and client engagement. FreshBooks, known for its 10x Stevie award winning customer support, serves customers of all sizes from offices in Canada, Croatia, Mexico, Netherlands, and the US.
About FastBill
FastBill is one of the leading online platforms providing easy invoicing and financial management for small businesses in Germany and central Europe. The award-winning company was founded in 2011 by René Maudrich and Christian Häfner with a focus on simple, and fast invoicing. Today, FastBill automates accounting processes and helps tens of thousands businesses to be more successful through simplified workflows and intelligent financial insights.
CONTACT: Katey Townshend FreshBooks pr@freshbooks.com Matthew Baker, SVP Corporate Development FreshBooks mbaker@freshbooks.com
