Japanese Fintech startup, Freee, has announced that it has closed a ¥3.5 billion ($29M) Series C funding round. The deal was led by DCM, Recruit Holdings, and Japan Co-Invest Limited Partnership, with total to date funding since 2012 for Freee at around $43 million.
A provider of Cloud accounting software, Freee has been able to achieve growth for its product by targeting the small and medium sized business (SMB) market in Japan. According to Freee, its software has been used by 380,000 companies since its launch in 2012. For customers, the benefit of its product is a simplified solution for handling reporting of accounting related needs such as tracking revenues and expenses, reducing the need of manual hires. Specifically, Freee’s goal with its software is for it to be simple enough for users without financial and accounting expertise to use the product to cover their needs.
Within Japan, the funding is notable, as despite the country’s advancements in tech and establishment as a global economic leader, there is only a small but growing startup environment. In replace of startups, many larger firms create in-house innovation units to spearhead product creation as well as partner with foreign firms. As such, Freees’s funding is one of the largest rounds for a fintech startup.
