Fluidly raises £5m in a round led by a US venture firm, with CEO Caroline Plumb saying the money goes into product, engineering and data science.
Gary Turner says Xero has no plans to become a bank but is watching banking innovation, pointing to its bank feeds API and integrations with Revolut, TransferWise, Tide and Starling.
Sian Kelly says her firm wants Xero to let accountants make supplier and payroll payments, calling client bank account opening a nightmare.
Xero Launches Bank Feeds API at Xerocon 2018
Funding and deals
Fluidly. Cash flow forecasting startup raised a £5m Series A led by a US venture firm, funding product, engineering and data science hires.
Instafile. Xero announced it is acquiring Instafile, which adds cloud compliance products for accountants.
Guest interviews
Gary Turner, co-founder and UK CEO of Xero. Xerocon grew from about 200 paying attendees in 2012 to about 3,000 people at the 2018 keynote. Xero's app ecosystem now has about 750 apps, and its new bank feeds API is, he believes, the first of its kind in the UK. He says Xero has no plan to become a bank.
Christoph Rieche, CEO and co-founder of iwoca. iwoca has funded more than 20,000 small businesses, is growing more than 100% a year and has nearly 250 staff. It has added a long-term investment loan. He says Xero is well ahead of the banks in serving small businesses.
Alexis Prenn, CEO and co-founder of Receipt Bank. He says Receipt Bank is Xero's number one add-on and that more Xero customers use it than all other apps combined. A typical customer gains three to five times more bookkeeping productivity.
Sian Kelly, managing director of Inform Accounting. Her firm has over 500 Xero clients and is in the beta programme for Making Tax Digital. She calls opening client bank accounts a nightmare and wants to pay suppliers and payroll from inside Xero.
Will Farnell, founder of Farnell Clarke. He says innovation in the core accounting platforms is plateauing, so accounting firms must drive it themselves. Automation of compliance work is also pushing accountants' fees down.
News
Barclays will sell MarketFinance invoice finance to clients. Barclays will offer the product to its 1m small business customers. Anil Stocker says it is the first time a big bank will rely on a third-party credit model.
TransferWise confirms a Xero bank feed is coming. The feed is the most requested feature from its small business customers. Stuart Gregory expects international payments to become instant and nearly free.
GoCardless accountant programme reaches 100 firms in Australasia. About 100 accountants in Australia and New Zealand now collect their own fees through it after six weeks. Canada and the US are planned next.
Card payments get small firms paid 20 days faster. Keri Gohman says card payments through Xero help UK small businesses get paid about 20 days faster on average.
Tap a name to go there · tap a line to see why they are linked ·