Investment notes: XBert

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Max Meyer
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We are excited to announce our investment into XBert, a seed stage company that offers the pre-eminent solution to human errors in cloud accounting.

The advent of digital bookkeeping, led by giants of the start-up world like MYOB, Xero and QuickBooks, has made it easier for small businesses and accountants to manage their files and track their cash flow. XBert represents the next generation of innovation by utilising algorithms and analytics to automate common processes and detect potentially fraudulent or erroneous transactions.

At the granular level, XBert’s software can detect duplicate bills, GST mis-payments, unpaid invoices, defunct business accounts and much, much more. Each functionality has been hand-crafted to address genuine pain points in the accounting process, and these solutions represent significant time and cost savings for administrators. On top of this, XBert also offers an integrated workflow management system that improves matter management, employee productivity and business performance visibility.

A Team Of Experts

Sprint’s core mission is to provide the best founders with the patient capital they need to succeed. We believe the best founders have the right skills, an ambitious mindset and a deep understanding of the problem they are trying to solve. Aaron and Troy truly embody these attributes and epitomise a dynamic product-led founder duo.

Aaron is a technology guru who has traversed the IT departments of travel, trading, finance and education companies over the last 20 years. Throughout this journey, he transitioned into management and became frustrated with the opaque accounting processes that he continually encountered. He saw successful businesses falter when expensive surprises emerged from mistaken bookkeeping processes, and this led him to envisage a powerful solution.

Troy is a marketing professional who ran an award-winning digital design agency for 14 years. His agency experienced rapid growth during the tech boom of the 2000s, but like Aaron, he uncovered a series of accounting errors that jeopardised the business’ financial foundations. He realised that businesses needed more than just a static accounting system in order to understand the financial health of their operation in real time.

Aaron and Troy met in Coffs Harbour and got to talking about their careers. They realised that while they had taken different paths on their journey to that spot on the beach, they had encountered the same challenges along the way. They understood that between them, they could solve this problem, and from that conversation XBert was created.

Floating On The Cloud

XBert functions as an extension to cloud accounting platforms. The core product offering is built to integrate into the systems of Xero, MYOB and Quickbooks. This allows the millions of customers who are already on the cloud to immediately utilise the XBert product. The decision to build upon these existing platforms, rather than creating a standalone application, has paved the way for XBert to scale rapidly whilst also minimising the onboarding burden placed upon prospective partners who see the value in XBert’s offering.

Historical financial data loaded into cloud accounting platforms is immediately analysed by the XBert software, and this is used to develop an understanding of the business’ cash flow cycles that then inform the predictive alert systems. Early adopters have indicated that one of the best parts of the XBert experience is the feeling of assurance provided by the XBert system immediately after installation. These customer stories reveal the true success that Troy and Aaron have achieved – they are helping people avoid the pitfalls that they experienced throughout their own careers.

Why Now?

The accounting industry has already undergone a significant amount of disruption. Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks have improved the lives of millions of small business owners. XBert represents the next generation of change that will revolutionise how modern companies track their financials.

Troy and Aaron are making a better tomorrow for their customers by reducing business risk and resource spend. They show great potential for reshaping the way businesses approach bookkeeping, and in the future, we envisage XBert as a must-have integration for all forms of cloud accounting.

If you’d like to learn more about XBert, you can check them out here.