Puzzle launches smart accounting software for startups; announces $15M series A led by General Catalyst

The opportunity to build the next generational accounting software

Today we are excited to share Puzzle’s first chapter: smart accounting software together with a real-time financial data platform in a single solution.  This combination brings capabilities beyond legacy accounting software, making it easy for founders (and their finance teams) to build a scalable foundation for fundraising, taxes and improving business health - all in one place, in real-time, and in-depth.

We think right now is a unique time to build the next generational accounting software. We have seen the impressive wave of finance innovation led by teams at Stripe, Brex, Ramp, Mercury, Rippling, Gusto, and Plaid, who built modern APIs that enable industry-defining automation and differentiation. Puzzle is the modern complement to these solutions, and what one founder described to us as their “missing piece of a modern finance stack.”

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Speed and accuracy are now a competitive advantage

When every minute is an opportunity cost, speed and accuracy are a competitive advantage. Puzzle believes accounting and finance are the underrated superpowers that set apart the next great businesses, but leaders are held back by legacy software that lacks the speed, collaboration, and intelligence needed for today’s fast-changing economy.

It’s no longer enough for founders to build great products; they need to build great businesses too. A startup needs a solution for taxes and financial reporting, but in tighter funding environments founders need to be more on top of their balance sheet and performance metrics than ever before.

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Puzzle is “a missing piece of a modern financial stack”

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A startup can choose a modern stack for almost every part of their business.....

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.... except their core accounting solution is still 30+ years old.

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After building in stealth for 3 years with hundreds of startups as alpha testers, we started seeing founders sharing Puzzle with other founders, with their investors, and with their accountants.  We knew we couldn’t keep it a secret much longer…

“Puzzle is the most impressive piece of software I have seen in a while”

“I can’t imagine building my startup without the peace of mind from using Puzzle. It is the  most intuitive accounting software ever.”

“Puzzle is amazing. As a first-time founder, I wanted to worry less about the back-office so I could focus on building my business. Puzzle delivers best-in-class software and support experience. I have already recommended Puzzle to other founders and will continue to do so.”

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One platform.  Many capabilities.

By combining smart accounting software and a real-time financial data platform in a single solution, Puzzle can enable a new set of capabilities for startups immediately:

• Intuitive design that make finances real-time and explorable to anyone, where you can drill down to the “why” behind each and every number.
• Detailed financial statements, startup metrics (like true cash, burn, runway, ARR), spend analysis, people and teams, revenue by customer, product and account, and “spotlight” trend analysis that together show a comprehensive complete picture of financial health.
• Verifiably accurate financials across cash and accruals for fundraising, taxes and audits, for increased confidence in moments where trust is created or broken.
• A learning system that gets better every day across categorization, suggestions, anomaly detection, and a lot more coming soon.
• Immutable financial records from inception to IPO on a system designed to scale as big as the company’s ambition.

Accounting software was none of this. It offered only a specific set of static, summary numbers, often delivered weeks after a month ends. This leads most founders to consider accounting a dead end for data, rather than a starting point of useful financial analysis. This limitation of capabilities is not a failure of accounting, but a failure of accounting software.

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So we rebuilt the accounting core, plus all the automation, collaboration and intelligence you would expect with any modern software.

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We are proud to announce that we raised a $15M Series A led by Hemant Taneja from General Catalyst (Stripe, Gusto, Ramp), FOG Ventures (an investing network of 700 venture-backed CFOs and operators), Ross Fubini from XYZ, Wes Chan from Felicis, Ash Rust from Sterling Road, Brian Dixon from Kapor Capital, and angels from Stripe, SVB, Brex, Mercury, Carta, AngelList, Square, Gusto, Plaid, LTSE, Airbase, renowned angel investors such as Gokul Rajaram, Lean Startup author Eric Reis, Ayo Omojola, founder networks Village Global, OnDeck, and an alumni syndicate from Y-Combinator, and accounting and auditing experts from KPMG, EY, Deloitte, PwC, Trivium Accounting and Tax, Integrated CPA as well as many other founders, operators, and early supporters.  We also have an incredible advisory board of accountants, CFOs, operators, and founders overseeing the product roadmap and making sure we are building for scale.

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What else can we build for you?

We have an amazing team across accounting, taxes, audit, venture capital, finance, engineering (including multiple accountant engineers), data, machine learning, design that have built some of the companies you know well, and many you have likely never heard of.  We are here to make you successful.

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Starting with companies as their first accounting software, we want the next generation of ambitious founders to to build their businesses with us, on Puzzle.  The world needs their ingenuity, and Puzzle exists to set them up for lasting success.

Learn more about why we think now is the time to build the next generational accounting software.