Wave Accounting Secures USD $12 Million in Series B Funding

TORONTO, May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Wave Accounting Inc. (Wave), an innovator of award-winning small business software, today announced it has closed a USD $12 million Series B funding round led by The Social+Capital Partnership (Social+Capital) with participation from existing investors Charles River Ventures (CRV) and OMERS Ventures. The new financing allows Wave to continue building more software tools that change the way small business owners do business.

"We're thrilled to have The Social+Capital Partnership join CRV and OMERS Ventures as investors," says Kirk Simpson, co-founder and CEO of Wave. "We look forward to working closely with Social+Capital's Chamath Palihapitiya and Mamoon Hamid. They have a proven track record in the online space, and will bring a lot of value to Wave as our platform continues to evolve and grow. Their influence will be felt in all aspects of the organization."

Wave's goal is to simplify the administrative tasks that all small business owners face, but which have been poorly addressed by software in the past. "Existing software tools for small businesses — starting with accounting, and continuing to payroll and beyond — are hard to learn, too expensive, and over-engineered compared to what small businesses really need. So business owners don't use them," says Simpson. "That leaves them in the dark about the health of their business, and makes it impossible to make sound business decisions."

The Wave approach is to build easy, affordable and integrated tools that make administrative headaches disappear for its small business customers. The company began in November 2010 with WaveAccounting.com, a 100 percent free cloud-based accounting application for businesses with 9 employees or less. In that time, Wave Accounting has had tremendous traction, becoming the fastest growing financial application for small businesses. Wave has:

• signed up nearly a quarter of a million businesses, and continues adding roughly 1,000 new signups every day.
• attracted business owners in 200+ countries, with 70% of signups coming from North America.
• tracked $24.3 billion in income and spending.

The company also launched Wave Payroll in Canada in February 2012; the U.S. launch is planned for later this year.

"Small businesses are highly underserved by smart, easy to use and easy to adopt software. Wave's cloud-based business applications are helping small businesses become more efficient and remain competitive," said Mamoon Hamid, General Partner at Social+Capital, who will also be joining Wave's board. "We're thrilled with the opportunity to help take the company to the next level."

"We strongly believe in the vision of the Wave management team led by Kirk Simpson and James Lochrie, and are confident they are strategically positioned to execute on their plans to move the company forward," said Devdutt Yellurkar, General Partner at Charles River Ventures. "We have been early supporters of Kirk and James and their vision to build the next generation platform to help small businesses manage their businesses more profitably. We have been delighted at their success and this round will propel further acceleration of the business."

About Wave
Based in Toronto, Canada, Wave provides integrated online applications that help small business owners around the world run their businesses. Wave has raised more than $19 million in funding in a year and a half, during which time it has signed up nearly a quarter of a million small business customers around the world. Wave Accounting currently tracks more than $24 billion in small business income and spending; customers can sign up for free at WaveAccounting.com. WavePayroll.com is available now in Canada; U.S. customers can sign up for advance invitations at http://wavepayroll.com/advance-invitation.

About The Social+Capital Partnership
The Social+Capital Partnership (Social+Capital) is a partnership of the world's most renowned philanthropists, technologists and capitalists utilizing venture capital as a force to create massive value and change on a global scale.  The Partnership is based in Palo Alto, California.

About Charles River Ventures
Founded in 1970, Charles River Ventures is one of the oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms in the U.S., with approximately $2.1 billion under management. Over the past 10 years, CRV funds have been ranked among the industry's top performers. CRV has offices in Boston, MA, and Menlo Park, CA. For more information visit crv.com.

About OMERS Ventures
OMERS Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of OMERS, one of Canada's largest pension funds with over $55 billion in net assets. As both an institutional angel investor and a later-stage investor, OMERS Ventures is looking for successful companies with significant growth potential and market opportunities. For more information please visit omersventures.com.

SOURCE Wave Accounting