Zeni, a startup founded by twin brothers that launched earlier this year using artificial intelligence to track cash flow and do bookkeeping, has scored $34 million in Series B financing.
The latest round of funding comes on top of the $13.5 million that the Palo Alto, California-based company announced in March from venture capital firms and angel investors (
VC firms have been pouring into the market for financial and accounting software this year, thanks to the strong stock market and economic recovery, despite the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.
Zeni, co-founded by CEO Swapnil Shinde and his twin, chief product officer Snehal Shinde, manages more than $500 million in funds each month across more than 100 startup customers, which range from pre-revenue startups to businesses generating more than $100 million in annual revenue. Zeni plans to use the extra capital to bring its AI-powered bookkeeping and accounting technology and services to more customers by investing aggressively in its team in the U.S. and India across product, technology, marketing, sales and finance operations.
“Startups and small businesses are fundamentally changing how they operate based on digital-first tools and services that are displacing the traditional, slow and human-intensive services across every category,” said Swapnil Shinde in a statement Wednesday. “There is a huge demand from startups to digitize and automate their business finances, leading Zeni to experience 550 percent revenue growth and 375 percent customer growth year over year. Zeni is tackling the root of startup risk — financial management — by applying artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process automation to create a fast, streamlined, intuitive way for startups to manage their finances.”
Zeni analyzes a company’s main financial metrics through its AI-powered Zeni Dashboard, including a cash-in and cash-out analysis and a universal search of transactions across a startup’s entire finances, pointing out spending and income trends for each of their customers and vendors.
“Our focus at Zeni is to make finance management as seamless as possible for our customers, which carries over to the minimalist, intuitive product experience within the Zeni Dashboard,” said Snehal Shinde in a statement. “Every feature we introduce has an explicit purpose based on our customers’ needs, and is meticulously crafted to allow startup founders to find the answers to their questions in the most direct, actionable way possible.”
As part of the deal, Elevation Capital managing partner is joining Zeni’s board. “Swapnil and Snehal's track record of serial entrepreneurship has given them a keen understanding of the daily frustrations founders experience in managing their business' finances,” he said in a statement. “This experience has also given them a clarity of vision which sets them apart from their peers. Digitizing and automating the bookkeeping and accounting functions and giving founders an up-to-the-minute understanding of their finances is critical for informed decision-making in a fast-paced start-up environment and Zeni is making these tasks infinitely easier for founders.”
