Tech scale-up on ambitious path to transform how professional services businesses engage clients, and get paid.
Sydney, Australia, November 18th — Ignition, the world’s first client engagement and commerce platform for professional services businesses, has raised $USD50M ($AUD65M) in a Series C funding round to fuel hyper growth and scale globally.
The funding round was led by US-based JMI Equity and marks JMI's first ever investment in Australia. Participating alongside JMI in this fundraise were existing investors Tiger Global, EVP and a number of other strategic angel investors and family office groups.
The fast-growing scale-up was founded in 2013 by accounting entrepreneur Guy Pearson and product designer Dane Thomas, with a vision to transform client engagement in professional services. Frustrated by antiquated manual processes, and late payments from clients, the pair launched Ignition to help accountants and bookkeepers grow, be more efficient, and create win-win client relationships.
Ignition has experienced tremendous growth since launching in 2013, almost doubling client revenues facilitated via the platform in 2021. With thousands of customers across six markets and over US$2 billion in client revenue under management, the business is on track to drive significant growth in 2022 and beyond.
Guy Pearson, CEO and Co-founder of Ignition said the company is gearing up for a substantial shift as the global professional services industry faces mounting pressure to digitise their operations and customer interactions in light of COVID-19, which has accelerated digital transformation globally.
“As the world moves online, many accountants and bookkeepers are having to rapidly shift their business practices and functions to be fully digital overnight. 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.”
“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. 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.”
Ignition is on an ambitious path to reshape the way the professional services industry does business with its customers through its all-in-one client engagement & commerce solution. Its unique platform integrates digital proposals, payments and automated workflows via leading business apps such as Gusto, Xero, Quickbooks and Zapier to streamline service-based commerce.
Funds raised from Series C will enable Ignition to double down on growing its core key markets in APAC, North America and EMEA through further product development and enhanced marketing and sales capabilities. It will also turbocharge the company’s international expansion plans with a focus on the US through its strategic partnerships with Gusto, Intuit and Thomson Reuters.
Sureel Sheth, Principal at JMI Equity said, “Guy, Dane and the team at Ignition have built a category-defining business with a world-class team. 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.
“Ignition has all the hallmarks of a world-class SaaS platform,” said Howard Leibman, Founder of EVP. “The platform addresses a very real need amongst mid-market professional service firms to streamline and automate their processes. The high level of customer advocacy speaks to the product’s success in driving real bottom-line impact for the thousands of such firms already on the platform. With Ignition having established a strong global footprint, we’re excited to continue supporting Guy, Dane and the team through the next stage of growth.”
The Series C capital raise follows a series of announcements in product innovation and growth for Ignition. The company recently unveiled a partnership with Gusto to accelerate adoption and knowledge of People Advisory services. It also announced plans to establish a new R&D team in Toronto, supporting the company’s innovation and customer expansion goals in North America, and contributing to the significant career opportunities within its high performing team globally.
Eva Yao
Sling & Stone
+61 449 899 618
eva@slingstone.com
Ignition is the world’s first client engagement and commerce platform for professional services businesses to streamline how they engage clients and get paid. Thousands of accounting and professional services firms around the world use Practice Ignition to win new business with impressive digital proposals, engage clients with a clear scope of work, and get paid on time by automating payment collection. Practice Ignition also integrates with leading business apps such as Gusto, QuickBooks, Xero and Zapier to automate time-consuming tasks. Founded in 2013 by a progressive accounting entrepreneur to find a better way of doing business, our goal is to help customers grow, be more efficient, and create win-win client relationships. To date, we’ve helped facilitate more than 1 Million client engagements and over $2 Billion in client payments. Practice Ignition has offices in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, US and the UK, with over 150 employees globally.
JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in over 165 businesses in its target markets, successfully completed over 110 exits, and raised more than $6 billion of committed capital. JMI partners with exceptional management teams to help build their companies into industry leaders. For more information, visit www.jmi.com.
Those interested in employment opportunities with Ignition are encouraged to visit our careers page.
Unfortunately, Ignition doesn't support payments in South Africa, but it's something we're working on in the future.
You'll still be able to engage clients seamlessly with online proposals and automated engagement letters, and run your business on autopilot by connecting apps to Ignition.
