Float raises £1.5 million seed for cash flow forecasting SaaS, new office in Sydney

Float, an Edinburgh-based cash flow service for Xero, QuickBooks Online and FreeAgent, has raised a £1.5 million seed round led by Marchmont Ventures. The startup’s first fundraise, this round will enable the company to open a new office in Australia, perfect its product, and expand in the sector. Float has developed a highly accurate cash flow forecasting and budgeting SaaS for small to medium-sized businesses and accounting firms. Users can check their cash status in real-time, which informs reporting, decision making and planning. The possible impact of those decisions and plans can be gauged through Float’s “what-if scenarios” tool. “Cash flow management is critical to the survival and success of SMEs, and it remains the number one issue keeping business owners awake at night,” said Float co-founder and CEO, Colin Hewitt. “We’re not trying to be all things to all businesses, we know financial management is a difficult issue to get right, but we’re confident that we have the most accurate and easy to use forecasting solution on the market.” The demand for such cloud-based accounting tools is steadily increasing as more businesses and industries undergo digital transformation. Hewitt continued, “We’ve seen a huge increase in demand with businesses looking for solutions to manage and forecast cash flow. As such, we’ve raised the funding required to grow our team and expand both locally and internationally.” The Scottish company will open a new office in Sydney this month, citing that the Australia/New Zealand market widely is one of the most forward-thinking regions for cloud accounting. About 12 new hires will come on board across its Sydney, global sales, product development, and marketing teams. 

Alan Martin, Managing Director of Marchmont Ventures, commented: “We are keen to work with businesses aligned with our values, who are able to grow fast but in a way that’s sustainable in the long term too. In that regard, Float is a perfect fit. We were struck immediately by the global market opportunity for digital accounting services, cash flow in particular, and have been really impressed by the Float product, which their users genuinely love.”