We’ve raised €6.5 Million in a round co-led by Aquiline Technology Growth and Middle Game Ventures. Two great partners for growth...
Here’s what we’re going to do with it.
2022 is shaping up to be a massive year for the Circit platform. We have always been a product focused company, we love to build great software and that is not going to change any time soon. Our customers will know that we deploy new features and products faster than most tech companies on a weekly basis, and this funding will be used to accelerate that pace of delivery even faster and with more powerful capabilities for our larger customers. Over the next 18 months, here’s a snapshot of the plan.
To go fast on all 3 sides
for auditors, companies and evidence providers
For auditors - We will be expanding our capabilities on the full product suite. Confirmation requests will remain our core and we will go deeper in terms of the network coverage of evidence providers which will be accelerated in new regions.
We’ve reached a tipping point where the number of global audit firms now
on the platform are fuelling the growth of the evidence providers also joining. The network effects are becoming clear and we will be doing everything possible to make that a seamless on-boarding process.
For companies - Benefiting from a faster audit facilitates businesses to move forward with less red tape and less time spent proving the accuracy of historical balances and transactions. We will be investing significantly in this side of the platform to ensure management and those charged with governance can show that all bank transactions are from an independent and verified source, reducing the risk of fraud going unidentified, as well as increasing fraud prevention with new controls in place.
For evidence providers - Banks, law firms and fund service providers are critical partners in the Circit network. We build easy to use interfaces which make the process of responding to auditors seamless for every type of request. We’re now deploying new technology for providers to move 100% of their global volume to Circit on day one, which in turn accelerates the uptake of audit firms joining the platform. We’re also extending our API capabilities to fully automate the process end-to-end.
Pioneering Open Banking for auditors
As auditors ourselves, we started Circit to make an impact and we have developed ground-breaking technology in an industry that is going through its biggest reform in decades. The Circit platform is the first of its kind to be directly regulated for Open Banking under the PSD2 regulation. This is important because removing intermediaries in the process of obtaining evidence, ensures auditors can trust that financial information is independent of the client company’s management, without the risk of interception or alteration. It also reduces the data protection risk of multiple sub-processors from a GDPR perspective.
''The Circit platform is the first of its kind to be directly regulated for Open Banking under the PSD2 regulation''
We have connected to more than 1,000 corporate banks over the past year. In the next 12 months we will add more than double that again, as well as heavily invest in premium API data points which go well beyond Open Banking standards. Premium APIs in Circit are designed with our banking partners specifically for auditors to increase fraud detection rates in companies and to identify any going concern risks that may be facing the businesses.
Deploying the Cash Testing Toolkit
Verified Transactions, Insights & Analytics
Cash touches all areas of the audit. Almost all business transactions are ultimately settled through cash accounts, therefore a high-quality audit of cash also assists in the verification of other assets and liabilities, as well as revenue and expenses within the financial statements.
Circit is focused on helping auditors to become highly skilled in addressing the future risks facing businesses, communities and the economy. Key
to this are the automation capabilities we’re building for the real-time verification of historical balances and transactions. When balance-sheet positions and cash flows can be tested against financial data at a verified source in minutes rather than weeks, it frees up auditors from the manual processes, resulting in more time spent on higher value audit techniques
to reduce risk further.
''Our customers will create the future of audit''
Our customers will create the future of audit, they are reforming their audit techniques, and we are their technology partner in making their vision a reality. Circit has three must-haves for auditors in its auditor toolkit:
- Verified Transactions
- Verified Insights
- Verified Analytics & Tests
We are continuing to invest heavily in all three products in collaboration
with our biggest customers to fit and future-proof their audit methodology.
Jeff Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Aquiline Capital Partners, said:
“The Circit team has built a high-quality and scalable platform at a time when audit processes and third-party confirmations are more important than ever. We are confident that the company is positioned for strong growth in the years ahead and are excited to support its further development.”
Commenting on the funding round, Patrick Pinschmidt, General Partner
for MGV stated:
“Circit is addressing a persistent pain point by digitising the audit confirmation process. But we see broader use cases for the company’s pioneering technology. The combination of open banking tools and the integration of financial institutions and corporates into Circit’s solution will lower costs and improve transparency as the company helps digitise a cross-section of workflows for a global customer base.”
We did not get here on our own
We are welcoming two new specialist fintech investors as partners in our business which I’m certain will be invaluable in scaling Circit on the next phase of our journey.
For some of our earlier investors, who will also be supporting us on the road ahead, getting Circit to this point has been a little rockier for you folks.
Eamonn Sampson, Peter Gray, Dominic Mullan, Liam Church, Jim Brown, Harry Largey, John Power and Patrick Joy.
On behalf of the team and myself, I’d like to sincerely thank you for all of your support, it could not have been achieved without you.
