There’s a lot happening with online invoicing, and funding recently raised for Tradeshift is the latest example.
Tradeshift, the business-to-business digital invoicing startup, has just raised $75 million in venture funding for expansion. The software is already being used in businesses in the U.S. and Europe. Tradeshift received that funding from VC firm Scentan Ventures, based in Singapore. The new capital will fuel expansion including more marketing of the software overseas.
But the company is only one of a long list of online invoicing options out there.
Many are simple applications that enable you to generate and email an invoice and get paid electronically via credit card or through PayPal. But other solutions are tied to additional apps and offer more functionality, including workflow.
For example, Handshake, is an app that allows buyers and sellers to write and receive orders for a wide variety of products including on iPad, iPhone and the Web. Those products include gifts, homeware, fashion, toys and more.
Another business-to-business ecommerce solution, Insight Software specializes in companies in the manufacturing, distribution and retail industries. Meanwhile, software solutions JOOR and NuOrder focus specifically on the apparel industry.
Nearly four years ago we started following the online invoicing space, and eventually the list of applications went up to 50 invoicing apps.
But this is a dynamic area showing that invoicing, or more specifically getting paid, seems to be a pain point that needs solving for many small businesses. For instance, Sage just launched a subscription online invoicing solution. Called Sage One, it costs $9 per month and directly targets the small business user.
In releasing the software, Sage claimed it was responding to a specific need in the small business community. The company said its data shows 57 percent of small businesses struggle to get paid quickly. And presumably this is due to lack of efficient invoicing tools.
Of those businesses, Sage claimed 71 percent said they created invoices on Word or Excel. About 47 percent said they sent their invoices by mail.
Last year, in an effort to refocus its own brand as a one-stop-shop for small business owners, domain registrar and Web hosting company GoDaddy acquired Ronin. The Mountain View, California company says its invoicing software is designed specifically with small businesses in mind.
Image: Tradeshift
I found another contender in Inc Magazine that seems really good for small business invoicing and was used by a small clothing designer.
http://pancakeapp.com is self hosted, so you pay up front but you never had to pay again so the cost over a year is less than paying monthly for a service.
Might be worth looking into. I’m not sure what you want in the website field below my email, so I put in their website, if that’s not right please let me know.
HAd a demonstration of the Xero invoice and accounting system yesterday and while I’m not always a fan of these type of systems, I was quite impressed. Definitely much better to use than MYOB.
Yep! Definitely going to go to the Xero online accounting system.