CVentures, the venture capital arm of the Commercial International Bank in Egypt (CIB) has invested in Countingup, the UK’s leading business banking and accounting app for small businesses. CIB joined the £4 million bridge round lead by ING Ventures and a group of investors including TriplePoint and BiG Start Ventures to back the company’s vision to be a financial hub for one million small businesses across the UK.

Since its launch in 2018, Countingup acquired more than 20,000 users and processed almost £1 billion in transactions. The company enables small businesses to open a Countingup current account in less than 5 minutes it also gives them access to a full suite of accounting and banking features via their smartphone. It has recently launched the “Accountant Hub”, a web-based accounting system that helps accountants manage and collaborate with their SME clients, in real-time.

This round will be used to accelerate Countingup’s banking and accounting roadmap to make it even easier and more efficient to digitally run a small business.

More About Countingup

“Countingup is a more automated and accurate alternative than traditional digital bookkeeping software or a shoebox of invoices and receipts. It’s ideal for sole traders and solves multiple pain points in one seamless solution” explains Tim Fouracre, Countingup’s Founder and CEO.

He added that the investors add meaningful opportunities for the company to expand outside the UK. According to Fouracre, following this bridge round Countingup will seek to do a larger funding round to accelerate growth once normality returns to society and the economy, post the COVID- 19 crisis. Fouracre also contended that Countingup’s solution has become even more important in light of coronavirus where it enables businesses to open up bank accounts without physically going to branches.

The company’s solution is also very relevant to the UK’s latest tax initiative: HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative. It will requires businesses to keep digital records and submit quarterly tax filings, a time consuming task fintech solutions are meant to takeover.

Commenting on the investment, Shady Tadross, Director at CVentures said “Countingup’s seamless solution reduces the costs and complexities associated with banking and accounting services for small businesses. This new approach makes it significantly easier for sole traders and micro enterprises to manage their accounts, and run their business. CVentures is excited at the prospect of working closely with Countingup, and we look forward to helping Tim and his team achieve their vision and grow into additional markets.”

About the Investors

ING Ventures, is the venture arm of ING a leading pan-European bank, while CVentures is the venture arm of the Commercial International Bank in Egypt (CIB). CIB is Egypt’s largest private sector bank with prospective geographic expansion plans underway. TriplePoint is a UK based investment management firm managing over £1.5 bn of private, institutional and public capital. While BiG Start Ventures is an early-stage VC firm that invests across Europe in B2B startups innovating in fintech, insurtech and cybersecurity.