Accounting teams rely almost entirely on general ledger software, which serves as the main system for recording and tracking all financial transactions. Julien Bek from Sequoia Capital compared changing general ledger providers to a risky medical procedure, saying it is akin to conducting surgery on the heart of the company.
In the past, venture firms shied away from backing firms that built new general ledger platforms, Bek said, because persuading clients to switch was both difficult and risky. This opinion shifted after Bek encountered Rillet, a company founded three years ago with a focus on using artificial intelligence to speed up financial reporting.
Rillet’s technology connects directly to clients’ banks and third-party services like Salesforce, Stripe, Ramp, Brex, and Rippling, making it possible to automatically generate documents such as balance sheets and income statements. Nicolas Kopp, who previously led neobank N26’s operations in the United States, claims his platform can help accounting teams at mid-size businesses complete month-end and quarter-end closings in a matter of hours instead of weeks.
Rillet says it has experienced rapid growth since introducing its product last year, citing a fivefold jump in revenue and the onboarding of close to 200 clients. Notable customers include companies like Windsurf, the coding tool linked to OpenAI through a massive acquisition, and Decagon, an artificial intelligence customer support provider valued in the billions.
Historically, firms of this size would use well-established products like NetSuite, which launched in the late nineteen nineties and remains a staple for growing businesses despite complaints about its speed and outdated interface. Bek noted that about a third of Rillet’s new business comes from organizations leaving NetSuite or similar competitors, a key factor that influenced Sequoia’s decision to back the company.
On Wednesday, Rillet disclosed that it had secured $25 million in new financing, an investment led by Sequoia with existing backers also participating. This latest round comes only ten months after Rillet closed a combined $13.5 million in seed and pre-seed funding from First Round Capital, Creandum, and Susa Ventures.
Kopp explained that moving from older systems to Rillet is much quicker than with previous migrations, and implementation typically takes as little as four to six weeks. Clients are able to maintain their existing ledger platform until they are certain all vital records have been transferred safely to the new system.
While Rillet’s main competition comes from longstanding products like NetSuite, it currently stands out as the only provider in its niche making use of both AI accounting software and machine learning to serve mid-size clients. Another AI-based accounting newcomer, Digits, recently entered the market with similar technology designed for much smaller firms using solutions such as QuickBooks and Xero. Companies considering a general ledger migration now have innovative AI-powered options to streamline and secure their accounting transitions.
