Practice Ignition, a client engagement and commerce platform for professional services firms, raised $50 million in a Series C funding round.
Founded in 2013, Practice Ignition aims to help accountants, bookkeepers and others manage their clients, with digital proposals, payment systems and automated workflows. It currently supports over 300,000 monthly client engagements, and has offices in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.
The company plans to use the money for product development, and to fuel its global expansion, particularly in the U.S., where it has strategic partnerships with Gusto and Intuit. Practice Ignition also plans to establish a new R&D team in Toronto.
“As the world moves online, many accountants and bookkeepers are having to rapidly shift their business practices and functions to be fully digital overnight,” said CEO and co-founder Guy Pearson in a statement. “This, together with the transition of accounting from tax compliance to advisory, means that the need to deliver engaging, quality customer interactions via technology is critical for closing deals, boosting profitability and winning and retaining clients.”
The new funding round was led by JMI Equity, which joins existing investors Tiger Global, EVP and a number of other strategic angel investors and family office groups.
“We are creating a new category with our client engagement and commerce platform, and we’re only scratching the surface when it comes to market penetration in the global professional services industry,” said Pearson. “We are confident that the wealth of knowledge and experience JMI brings, through their long history of backing high-growth technology businesses, will be invaluable in helping us capture market share rapidly as we enter this next phase of growth.”
“Guy, Dane and the team at Practice Ignition have built a category-defining business with a world-class team,” JMI Equity principal Sureel Seth said in a statement. “We have been impressed by the strength of the product, the engaged and loyal customer base and the enormous potential for growth and scale globally. As an emerging leader in the accounting and broader professional services markets, Practice Ignition’s culture of innovation is unparalleled in the sector and we’re thrilled to partner as Practice Ignition embarks on this next phase of international expansion.”
