Hi there and welcome to Funded, where we spotlight the early-stage bets on the future of tech.
Today, we look at Layer, a San Francisco-based AI-enabled financial accounting platform that enables SMBs to integrate accounting into the software platforms they already use to run their daily operations. The co announced a $6.6 million seed round this week led by Emergence Capital, with participation from Better Tomorrow Ventures.
Layer noted in the announcement that it has quadrupled its SMB platform customer base in the last year and supports over 30,000 SMBs through its customers, which include Moxie, Nav, and Dripos. The company plans to use the new funding for expanding into additional SMB segments and building out vertical-specific products. The company will also put the funds to recruiting talent for engineering and go-to-market roles.
Core to Layer’s main embedded solution product is an AI-powered bookkeeping service that categorizes and records business transactions to deliver fully reconciled financial reports by the end of each month. Layer says that through automation with expert oversight, they are typically able to reduce cost of bookkeeping for customers by half and closes books 3x faster.
Layer’s CEO Justin Meretab was previously product lead in banking at Square, and CTO Daniel O’Neel was previously Principal and lead data engineer at Wealthfront.
“Small businesses shouldn’t have to choose between running their operations and understanding their finances,” said Meretab said in the announcement. “Layer makes accounting a seamless part of SMBs’ daily workflows and takes bookkeeping off their plate — giving owners financial clarity and valuable time back to focus on running their businesses.”
