Tax–tech start–up Ember has raised a 拢1.6 million seed round to听scale the company’s vision of making it possible for anyone to start听and run a business.听
Founded in London in February 2019, Ember automates the tax and accounting process for freelancers, contractors and small business owners across the UK. Available as a web platform and app, it provides real-time accounting for business owners in a language and interface they understand, as well as unlimited financial support from a team of experts. 听
By听automatically filing taxes with HMRC, Ember saves business owners time,听optimises their tax-efficiency and gives them complete transparency over their听company finances.听
Led by FinTech venture investment firm Anthemis, the round is geared towards听product development, recruitment and customer acquisition.听听
“Ember is at a crucial point in our growth as a software and a听company,鈥� said Ember CEO Aaron Shaw (pictured, left, with co-founder Dan Hogan).听听
鈥�Having achieved proof of concept and organic customer growth since听our pre-seed round, we’re now ready to bring on customers at scale and expand听the progressive functionalities of the platform.鈥�听
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Ember harnesses open banking and machine learning to streamline the worlds of accounting and tax for small business. When you first join, you connect up your business bank account, bringing听all of听your financial听information into one central feed. From there, you听are able to听manage your suite of听tax obligations, always with the reassurance of a qualified business partner at the听other end and at a fraction of the price of a private accountant.听
Born of the founders’ frustration with the current accountant/client relationship,听which is costly, time consuming and leaves the business owner feeling听disempowered, Ember is designed specifically with business owners, not听accountants, in mind.听
鈥淎s the shape of our economy and workforce changes, our vision is to make听running a business simple enough for anyone without a financial degree to do 鈥撎齠rom opening a business to closing it, and everything in between,” says co-founder and COO Daniel Hogan.听
Alongside Anthemis, VC funds Innovation Nest and Spring Ventures have backed听Ember. Ruth Foxe Blader, Partner at Anthemis, said:听鈥淓mber has the opportunity听to modernise small business tax preparation and accounting.听听
鈥�Anthemis has听a听history听of backing companies that support SME commerce, the backbone of the听global economy. Especially as the pandemic听strains听entrepreneurship, we鈥檙e听thrilled to support this progressive team.鈥�听