Pavilion, Recruit provide Series B2 for Japan's Freee

This follows a Series B1 round of $8 million provided by DCM and Infinity Ventures.

Freee was founded in 2012 by Daisuke Sasaki, who previously led Google's Asia Pacific marketing efforts targeting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Since its launch in March 2013, the software platform has built up a user base of more than 120,000 SMEs in Japan. It operates under a "freemium" model with the more advanced paid-for service starting at JPY980 ($10) per month.

The company has been investing in product improvements by increasing bank partners, adding new features, introducing iOS and Android apps, and integrating with other SME business management tools such as Square and Recruit-owned AirRegi. Most recently, Freee has launched a payroll product and an expense report feature.

"In Japan, software-as-a-service (SaaS) penetration among SMBs is still around 17%. SMBs did not choose SaaS for accounting tasks until freee was launched. We successfully opened this market by offering the first online accounting software that can truly automate bookkeeping and help SMBs to run their businesses more effectively," Sasaki said in a statement.

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• Topics
• Venture
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• North Asia
• Early-stage
• Temasek Holdings
• Venture
• Japan
• Technology