AI Startup Campfire Lures NetSuite Clients, Secures $35M Series A Led by Accel
▼ Summary
– Campfire, an AI-powered accounting startup, raised a $35 million Series A led by Accel, with participation from other investors including Y Combinator and Mercury’s CFO Dan Kang.
– The startup has attracted customers like Advisor360 and Rhumbix, who switched from NetSuite, with one customer reducing their monthly book-closing time from 15 to 3 days.
– Founder John Glasgow, a finance veteran with experience at Fidelity and Adobe, was inspired to automate financial tasks after working at Invoice2go, which was acquired by Bill.com.
– Campfire uses AI to streamline accounting processes, such as reconciling AWS bills and generating cash flow analyses, targeting outdated ERP systems like NetSuite.
– Accel’s John Locke led the Series A due to Campfire’s rapid traction and the $56 billion ERP market potential, seeing Glasgow as the right leader for the AI-driven ERP space.
Campfire, an emerging AI-driven accounting platform, has successfully secured $35 million in Series A funding with Accel leading the round. The investment also saw participation from Foundation Capital, Y Combinator, Capital 49, and notable angel investors like Mercury’s CFO Dan Kang. The startup has quickly gained traction by attracting businesses migrating from legacy systems like NetSuite, including Advisor360, Rhumbix, and Fooji.
Founder and CEO John Glasgow brings a wealth of experience from his tenure at Fidelity, Union Square Advisors, and Invoice2go, a company later acquired by Bill.com for $625 million. This background gave him firsthand insight into the inefficiencies of traditional financial software, inspiring him to launch Campfire in 2023. The platform leverages large language models (LLMs) to automate tedious accounting tasks, such as reconciling cloud computing bills and generating cash flow analyses through natural-language queries.
One of Campfire’s early adopters reportedly reduced their monthly financial close from 15 days to just three after switching from NetSuite. While still a small player compared to Oracle’s billion-dollar ERP business, Campfire has already onboarded around 100 customers, including a global client projected to reach $250 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).
Accel’s John Locke, an early backer of Invoice2go, was impressed by Campfire’s rapid adoption despite its early-stage status. Recognizing the potential in the $56 billion ERP software market, Locke pushed for a substantial Series A investment to accelerate growth. “The AI ERP space is enormous, and John is the right founder to lead this,” Locke remarked, justifying the decision to commit significant capital upfront.
With 12 employees and a growing client base, Campfire aims to redefine financial operations for modern businesses by replacing outdated systems with intelligent automation. The fresh funding will likely fuel further product development and market expansion, positioning the startup as a serious contender in enterprise accounting solutions.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed Mercury as a Campfire customer. This has been corrected.
(Source: TechCrunch)
