Thrive, an Australian fintech startup that provides tools for automating financial admin for small businesses, has raised $2 million in under two days in a record-breaking crowdfunding campaign.
Melbourne-based Thrive has developed a product that uses artificial intelligence to automate banking, accounting, tax and lending for small-to-medium businesses. Available via a monthly subscription, Thrive collates data to determine borrowing capacity and the likelihood of loan repayment.
Thrive has over 7,500 businesses on its launch waitlist.
Co-founder & CEO Michael Nuciforo says its own research shows that most business owners currently spend between $1,800 and $3,000 a year on bookkeeping and accounting.
“The average small business spends over six hours a week and uses five different tools to manage their money," he says. "We have created a simple, intuitive and automated solution that completely reimagines how a product can improve the financial wellbeing of a business.”
The $2 million pay day will fast-track further product development, after yielding over 860 Expressions of Interest on the Birchal platform.
Says Nucifero: “We set a target of between $1 million and $3 million, which we felt was an audacious goal for the period of the campaign but to reach the minimum in under three hours has been gobsmacking for the team. We’re now focused on getting to our maximum target of $3 million."
The previous fastest to $1 million on the Birchal platform was a medicinal cannabis equity raise launched by Montu last year, which was reached in 36 hours.