Latest news with #NoahPepper
Business Times
10 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
Multiplier Holdings launches with US$27.5 million in funding to power AI support for professional services firms
[SINGAPORE] Technology company Multiplier Holdings announced on Thursday (Jun 19) its launch with US$27.5 million in seed and Series A funding, as it builds artificial intelligence (AI)-native professional services companies. The Series A round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Economic Development Board Investments, the investment arm of SG Growth Capital. Previous investors included SV Angel, and Ribbit Capital which led the seed funding round. Multiplier acquires professional services companies and onboards them into its AI-driven practice management platform. It helps them develop AI solutions that automate time-consuming tasks and deliver improved outcomes for their clients. The Singapore-headquartered company also provides hands-on technical support and continues to build new features in collaboration with its acquired companies, to improve scalability of the business. With regards to the funding, Multiplier will use it to expand its portfolio of businesses on a global stage, and capitalise on a pipeline of interest by companies in tax, accounting and similar professional service sectors. It will also accelerate the development of its AI automation platform, as it continues to hire engineering talent in Singapore and San Francisco. Founded by former Stripe executive Noah Pepper, Multiplier aims to offer a library of AI and workflow components that can be configured to fit the needs of each acquired company. 'Moving to Singapore for a globally oriented role and seeing the challenge and opportunity people and businesses face operating across borders is what originally inspired the idea behind the company,' said the Singapore-based chief executive and founder. 'We believe the market will reward players who deliver technology-enabled client service through an integrated platform of people and technology.'
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Multiplier, founded by ex-Stripe exec, nabs $27.5M to fuel AI-powered accounting roll-up
In late 2022, Noah Pepper, a former Stripe business lead for the Asia Pacific region, founded Multiplier, a startup that aimed to sell software to tax accounts. But soon after ChatGPT was released, he realized that AI can change how professional service firms use technology. 'I realized I was barking up the wrong tree by trying to build a SaaS business, and instead I should figure out how to make these people more effective,' he told TechCrunch. The startup acquired Citrine International Tax, a boutique provider of cross-border tax accounting services, and enhanced the firm with AI capabilities built by Multiplier. It quickly became apparent that the strategy was working. By eliminating manual work, Multiplier's AI tools helped Citrine more than double its profit margins. So, Pepper decided that instead of building software for accounting firms, Multiplier would acquire existing professional service businesses and outfit them with its AI solution. Today, Multiplier, which is now called Multiplier Holdings, is announcing that it raised a total of $27.5 million in seed and Series A financing. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the Series A funding round for the startup, following Multiplier's seed round, which was led by Ribbit Capital with participation from SV Angel. Multiplier is part of a growing trend: startups acquiring existing service businesses and scaling them with AI. The PE-style roll-up strategy has recently gained popularity among VCs, with investors such as General Catalyst, Elad Gil, Thrive, and Khosla Ventures backing startups that develop AI solutions and integrate them into existing people-focused companies. 'Until AI existed, none of this was possible,' Lightspeed partner Justin Overdorff said. In addition to Multiplier, Lightspeed has invested in three other yet-to-be-announced AI-powered roll-up companies. Overdorff is convinced that this strategy is most effective when the startup buys small companies because they are more open to changing their existing processes. 'If you go to an accounting firm that has 200 accountants, it's unlikely to get adopted at a [high] rate.' Prior to being purchased by Multiplier, Citrine was a two-person tax entity. Multiplier not only helped increase its margins but also helped Citrine grow, Overdorff said. Multiplier's goal is to expand beyond offering personal tax compliance to create an AI-powered competitor to the Big Four accounting firms. Pepper said that Multiplier is looking to purchase high-recurring-revenue service firms helmed by people who are excited to integrate and help customize AI to take their businesses to the next level. 'It's a little bit like a venture-style business where you're looking to make a bet on this leader who you think is just amazing in their category,' Pepper said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
20 hours ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Multiplier Holdings Launches With $27.5 Million in Funding to Accelerate the AI Journey for Professional Services Firms
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Multiplier Holdings, a technology company building AI-native professional services firms, publicly launched with $27.5 million in Seed and Series A funding. The Series A round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Ribbit Capital (led the Seed), EDBI, and SV Angel. Multiplier is helping to overcome the AI adoption hurdle by acquiring specialized professional services firms and integrating custom AI automation to deliver better results for clients, drive efficiency and fuel growth. Globally, the professional services market is valued at over $6 trillion, and is projected to grow significantly in the coming years (e.g., tax advisory services are forecasted to grow at 11.2% CAGR). Tax, accounting, specialized advisory and other high-stakes professional services firms face more demand than they can supply with a declining workforce, alongside high labor costs and legacy technologies. Multiplier acquires ambitious boutique services firms, onboards them to its AI-driven practice management platform, and then iteratively and diligently works with the firms' domain experts to uplevel the client experience and improve the scalability of the business. "Vertical SaaS might not be the best path to modernize an industry. Building an AI-native professional services platform from the ground up creates the most technological leverage and captures more incentive alignment between domain and technology experts than traditional SaaS,' said Justin Overdorff, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. 'The Multiplier approach—an AI-first software company acquiring existing service firms to compete directly in the services business by using proprietary technology—allows us to elevate the client and staff experience in a radical way. As it scales, Multiplier can become the preferred buyer in these categories by underwriting the largest and most repeatable post-acquisition improvements to the business while ensuring firm owners and staff participate in the upside." Multiplier partners with the firms it owns to directly embed its technology, iteratively developing new features and offering hands-on technical support as a long-term owner, working alongside the firm's staff to create customized AI-driven solutions to fit the exact needs of each specialized firm. This approach enables Multiplier to build customizable solutions to automate critical but time-consuming tasks and free up time to deliver better outcomes for clients. "We believe the market will reward players who compete on technology-enabled client service through an integrated platform of people and tech. While our portfolio firms maintain operational independence, we align incentives across all stakeholders—from Multiplier leadership to firm leaders and staff—creating hybrid technology firms with exceptional client service, automation, and quality that traditional firms using off-the-shelf AI solutions simply cannot match," said Noah Pepper, CEO of Multiplier Holdings and former Stripe executive. The model is working. Within the first eight months since starting their tech build-out, Multiplier's AI-powered platform helped Citrine International Tax multiply cash flows by approximately 2.5 times and eliminate large swaths of highly manual work. A significant portion of this lift was shared back with the staff of the firm in the form of performance bonuses while delivering enhanced service to clients. "When Noah approached us, we saw Multiplier as a unique opportunity to become part of a technology firm and deliver a truly differentiated level of client service– all while growing the business together," said Gregory Trotman, founder of Citrine International Tax. 'The Multiplier team immersed themselves in our workflows, built a custom end-to-end technology platform and worked with our staff to streamline everything from client onboarding to billing, resulting in a huge lift in productivity.' Clients are noticing the impact of the technology too: 'Citrine has been a major upgrade compared to prior firms we used. Emily, our advisor at Citrine, is more responsive and easier to work with, and the tools she's using help us gain clarity and confidence about where our return is in the workflow - and rapidly confirm when things have been submitted to the authorities,' said Keith Robinson, an American technology investor and former C-level executive living in London who became a Citrine client in the last year. About Lightspeed Venture Partners Lightspeed Venture Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in AI, Enterprise, Consumer, Health, and Fintech. Over the past 25 years, the Lightspeed team has backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 500 companies globally including Abridge, Affirm, Anthropic, Cato Networks, Epic Games, Glean, Mistral, Moveworks, Navan, Netskope, Rubrik, Snap, Wiz, and more. Lightspeed and its global team currently manage over $30B in AUM across the Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in the U.S., Europe, India, Israel, and Southeast Asia. Multiplier Holdings scales high-impact professional services firms through the power of AI. Multiplier's unique model entails acquiring professional services firms, like specialized tax and accounting practices, and transforming them into more scalable, profitable businesses by systematically integrating custom AI solutions. Multiplier holds a library of AI and workflow components developed in-house that can be configured to fit the needs of each acquired firm. This allows Multiplier to automate critical, time-consuming tasks to increase firm efficiency and productivity and drive growth, while improving both the customer and employee experience. To learn more, visit
