CIBC Innovation Banking provided a $5 million credit facility to Nevada-based Karbon Inc., which provides industry-leading practice management software for accounting firms. The company plans to use the facility to support its hiring plans and further invest in its diverse product set.
Founded in 2014, Karbon’s innovative cloud-based solution enables accounting practices to more efficiently manage internal workflows, client interactions, and communications. It currently has employees across the USA with extensive experience in the accounting and software development industries, as well as offices in New Zealand, the UK, and Sydney, Australia.
The workflow software market has historically been dominated by desktop legacy solutions, but the recent forced and immediate shift to ‘work from home’ provided an opportunity for Karbon which saw its active users double in 2020.
“The industry has been experiencing a gradual shift to distributed teams for years, but the pandemic significantly accelerated that trend. Accounting practices with cloud-based workflow versus legacy desktop solutions immediately realized the value of having the flexibility to efficiently work-from-anywhere,” said Stuart McLeod, CEO & Co-Founder of Karbon. “We are pleased to have the support of the CIBC Innovation Banking team to continue building out our product set and become the premium cloud-based workflow solution for accountants.”
The company also recently announced a strategic growth investment from Five Elms Capital, and will be growing its teams in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK to accelerate development and enhancements of its product set in service of its mission to change the way accounting firms work.
“Stuart, John, and Ian have built a quality and robust team dedicated to meeting the needs of accounting firms and their clients. We are excited to support the company as it continues to scale globally,” said Holly Dungan, Managing Director in CIBC Innovation Banking’s Menlo Park office.
In addition to Five Elms Capital, Karbon’s equity investors also include Blackbird Ventures.