FreshBooks
Developer(s)2ndSite Inc[1]
Initial release2004; 20 years ago (2004)[2]
Available in12 languages[3]
List of languages
English, French, Danish, Estonian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Spanish (Latin American), Swedish
TypeAccounting software, SaaS
LicenseProprietary
Websitewww.freshbooks.com

FreshBooks is accounting software operated by 2ndSite Inc. primarily for small and medium-sized businesses. It is a web-based software as a service (SaaS) model, that can be accessed through a desktop or mobile device.

The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

History

FreshBooks was founded in 2004 by Mike McDerment, Levi Cooperman, and Joe Sawada in Toronto, Ontario. McDerment incorporated a second company, BillSpring in January 2015 to work on new product development. It was rolled back into FreshBooks as an updated interface in 2016.[4]

Initially FreshBooks functioned like an electronic invoicing program targeting IT professionals.[5] After the release of the new interface, the initial release of FreshBooks was referred to as "FreshBooks Classic."[6] FreshBooks Classic was discontinued in 2022 after migrating users to the new platform.[7] FreshBooks Classic's front-end application was built in PHP, and the backend services were built in Python while the new FreshBooks uses the same backend services with a JavaScript single-page application.[citation needed]

Product

FreshBooks offers a subscription-based product that includes invoicing, accounts payable, expense tracking, time tracking, retainers, fixed asset depreciation, purchase orders, payroll integrations, mileage tracking, double-entry accounting, and industry-standard business and management reporting.[8] All financial data is stored in the cloud on a single unified ledger, allowing users to access the same set of books regardless of location on desktop and mobile.[9] It offers a free API that enables customers and 3rd-party software vendors to integrate external applications with FreshBooks. FreshBooks also supports multiple tax rates and currencies. It also incorporates a payroll feature and a projects feature.[10][11] The software is priced on a pay-per-use recurring monthly fee.[12]

FreshBooks supports country specific tax calculation in Canada, the United States and Britain. GST and HST in Canada, sales taxes in the United States, and MTD in the UK are supported by FreshBooks.[13]

Operations

FreshBooks has its headquarters in Toronto, Canada with operations in North America, Europe and Australia.[14] Founder Mike McDerment was the chief executive officer of the company from 2003 until 2021, when he stepped down and was replaced by Don Epperson, but stayed as the executive chair.[15][16] Don Epperson had previously joined FreshBooks as executive director in 2019.[15]

Funding

FreshBooks was initially self-funded.[15] In 2014, the company raised a Series A venture investment of $30 million led by the venture capital firm Oak Investment Partners, with participation by Georgian Partners and Atlas Venture.[17][18] In 2017, FreshBooks announced that it raised another $43 million in funding from Accomplice, Georgian Partners and Oak Investment Partners.[19][20]

On August 10, 2021, FreshBooks announced that it had secured $80.75 million in Series E funding and $50 million in debt financing.[15] FreshBooks also reached a valuation of more than $1 billion.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ "2ndSite Inc – Company Profile". Bloomberg Markets. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  2. ^ "The Freshbooks Story". Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  3. ^ "Languages Freshbooks". Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  4. ^ "Forbes Company Page". Forbes. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  5. ^ Reuber, Becky (2012-12-14). "Case Study: From his parents' basement, entrepreneur builds accounting powerhouse". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  6. ^ "FreshBooks Launches Completely Redesigned Product Aimed at Self-Employed Professionals and Their Teams". FreshBooks. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  7. ^ "How Do I Migrate My Classic XML API to the New Rest API?". FreshBooks. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  8. ^ Drake 2018-10-17T17:00:22ZBusiness, Nate; Software, Finance. "FreshBooks review". TechRadar. Retrieved 2019-04-12. ((cite web)): |last1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "FreshBooks adds bank reconciliation, mileage tracking, double-entry accounting to its software". BetaKit. 2019-02-07. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  10. ^ Gewirtz, David. "Best cloud services for small businesses". CNET. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  11. ^ "2018 Review of FreshBooks". www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  12. ^ "FreshBooks Pricing". FreshBooks. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  13. ^ "FreshBooks, Leading Small Business Accounting Software, Launches in the UK". Yahoo! Finance. February 11, 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  14. ^ "FreshBooks adds bank reconciliation, double-entry accounting to its software". BetaKit. 2019-02-07. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  15. ^ a b c d e Ann Azevedo, Mary (2021-08-10). "FreshBooks reaches $1B+ valuation with $130.75M for its SMB-focused accounting platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-08-12.
  16. ^ Douglas, Nick. "I'm FreshBooks Co-Founder Mike McDerment, and This Is How I Work". Lifehacker. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  17. ^ "FreshBooks receives $30-million in funding". Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  18. ^ Entrepreneur; Startups, F. P. (2014-07-23). "Toronto's FreshBooks has global ambitions after raising US$30-million | Financial Post". Financial Post. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  19. ^ Pofeldt, Elaine. "FreshBooks Raises $43 Million In Funding". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  20. ^ "After relaunching its accounting platform, FreshBooks has raised another $43 million". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
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