Xero bets big on e-invoicing with company purchases

Cloud accounting software business Xero has bought the Swedish-based company Tickstar as it believes e-invoicing is one of the next big innovations that will help small businesses and advisors streamline their accounting work and get paid faster.

"We currently use Tickstar’s technology to connect Xero customers to e-invoicing networks in Australia and New Zealand. This acquisition will provide us with continued access to e-invoicing networks while providing Tickstar with additional resources to service its existing customers and acquire new ones," the company, which has offices in New Zealand, Australia, UK, US, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Africa, said in a media release.

"E-invoicing provides significant efficiencies – reducing administration time, invoicing errors and the risk of invoice fraud.

"It also makes it easy for governments and businesses to pay invoices faster, as the process is automated and there is no need to manually enter data or chase missing information. As adoption grows around the world, e-invoicing is likely to become a best practice standard and natural part of the cloud accounting process, like bank feeds and e-tax filing."

The business, with its headquarters in Wellington, New Zealand, paid US$17.4 million for Tickstar, which is based in Stockholm. It will operate as a Xero subsidiary company. Following the acquisition, Tickstar’s development team will be expanded to develop additional product features for their government and business customers.

The Tickstar purchase follows Xero's buying of Danish staff rostering platform Planday for US$240 million, which they believe will help deliver on the cloud accounting software business's objective to make "life better for people in small business, their advisors and communities around the world".

"Planday integrates with Xero, other accounting solutions and third-party workforce-related apps, to deliver a real-time view of staffing needs and payroll costs, alongside key business performance metrics," Xero said in a media release.

"Planday helps to address the changing nature of work, with employers and employees increasingly adopting flexible arrangements.

"At the same time, employers’ compliance burden is growing, creating the need for tools to manage workforce flexibility and regulatory compliance, accurately calculating wages, which are often their biggest expense."

The purchases show the intention of CEO Steve Vamos to strengthen the company. Vamos, the former Microsoft Australia and New Zealand CEO, succeeded Founder Rod Drury in April 2018.