An intelligent bookkeeping start-up that automates financial data production and eliminates manual data entry has raised £3.3m to accelerate its growth across the North of England.
Outmin, which is headquartered in Dublin, raised the funding in a round led by Praetura Ventures, with investment coming from Praetura’s EIS Growth Fund and NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, which is managed by Praetura Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, with other investors participating.
The raise will enable Outmin to expand its presence in the North West, with plans to significantly increase its headcount. This will include bolstering its operations and sales teams. Additionally, Outmin will also invest in enhancing its AI capabilities and strengthening partnerships with accounting firms, helping them to increase efficiency, margins, and scale with existing headcount.
Co-founded by Ross Hunt (CEO) and David Kelleher (CRO) Outmin’s technology automates tedious bookkeeping tasks, freeing up finance professionals to spend more time on higher-value activities. Unlike traditional accounting software like Xero, Sage, and Dext that rely on manual data entry, Outmin’s innovative zero-touch solution empowers accounting and finance professionals with fully reconciled, data science-quality financial data.
According to Outmin, more than 350 businesses utilise the platform, and they have established partnerships with 12 accounting practices. Businesses report saving more than 200 hours annually on bookkeeping, while some partner firms report as much as £8,000 in additional revenue per client onboarded to Outmin by reallocating existing staff to higher-value tasks.
Alongside the investment, Outmin has announced the appointment of Feargal O’Rourke, former Managing Partner of PwC Ireland, as Chairman of the Board. Feargal will support the management team as they scale Outmin and continue to address long-standing challenges in accounting, such as talent shortages and inefficiencies.
A recent report by ManpowerGroup*, a global workforce solutions company, indicates a significant talent shortage within the finance industry, with over 79% of UK companies experiencing recruitment difficulties. In the Northwest region, 73% of businesses face similar hiring obstacles, a challenge Outmin is designed to address. For accounting firms, specifically, talent acquisition and retention are essential for managing workload and providing client value. Failure to meet these demands can result in HMRC penalties, which reached a record high of £34.4 million for UK businesses in late filing penalties in 2022-2023.
Ross Hunt, CEO and Founder of Outmin, said: “This funding marks an exciting new phase for Outmin that will enable us to grow our presence in the UK and bring automated bookkeeping to more businesses and accounting firms. The North West is a hotbed of activity, with incredibly exciting advancements happening across the AI landscape, and we’re looking forward to playing a bigger part within that ecosystem while supporting companies and accounting firms up and down the country with our intelligent solutions.”
Peter Carway, Investment Director at Praetura Ventures, said: “Outmin is a perfect business case for advanced AI deployment. By automating complex but repetitive bookkeeping tasks, accounting practices can redeploy their resources onto higher revenue generating advisory work. This is a huge area of interest and investment, with growing momentum in the financial sector across the UK, Europe and US. Outmin are expanding their team across the Northwest due to the abundance of talent and resources available here. We’re looking forward to working closely with the team as they continue to scale their product and UK customer base.”
Sue Barnard, Senior Investment Manager at the British Business Bank, added: “The North West is home to a thriving services sector, of which we’re proud to be supporting through NPIF II. It’s great to see a business outside our region recognising this, with Outmin taking advantage of the exceptional talent we have and using NPIF II to grow a presence in the North West. This will all help to create new jobs and opportunities for local people, which is exactly what we set out to support when launching NPIF II last year.”
The £660m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II covers the entire North and provides loans from £25k to £2m and equity investment up to £5m to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.
The purpose of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the North. The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II will increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for Northern smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and help to break down barriers in access to finance.
Praetura Ventures were advised by Hannah Serene at PwC.
