Funding Announcement
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, and our commitment to building great software is unwavering. Our customers 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 further 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 across the full product suite. Confirmation requests will remain our core focus, with deeper network coverage of evidence providers being accelerated in new regions. We’ve reached a tipping point where the number of global audit firms on the platform is fueling the growth of the evidence providers joining us. The network effects are becoming clear, and we will make the on-boarding process seamless.
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. We have developed ground-breaking technology in an industry undergoing its most significant 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 crucial because removing intermediaries in obtaining evidence ensures auditors can trust that financial information is independent of the client company’s management, mitigating the risk of interception or alteration. It also reduces the data protection risks associated with 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 plan to double that number and heavily invest in premium API data points that exceed Open Banking standards. Our premium APIs are designed with our banking partners specifically for auditors to enhance fraud detection rates and identify any going concern risks facing businesses.
Deploying the Cash Testing Toolkit
Verified Transactions, Insights & Analytics
Cash touches all areas of the audit. Almost all business transactions are settled through cash accounts, so a high-quality audit of cash also assists in verifying other assets and liabilities, as well as revenue and expenses in 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 shape the future of audit, reforming their audit techniques, and we are their technology partner in realizing that vision. Circit has three must-haves for auditors in its 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 ensure they fit and future-proof their audit methodology.
“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,”
Jeff Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Aquiline Capital Partners.
“Circit is addressing a persistent pain point by digitising the audit confirmation process. 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,”
Patrick Pinschmidt, General Partner for MGV.
Gratitude to Our Investors
We did not get here on our own. We are welcoming two new specialist fintech investors as partners in our business, which will be invaluable in scaling Circit in the next phase of our journey.
For some of our earlier investors, who will continue supporting us on the road ahead, getting Circit to this point has been a bit rockier. A heartfelt thank you goes out to:
- Eamonn Sampson
- Peter Gray
- Dominic Mullan
- Liam Church
- Jim Brown
- Harry Largey
- John Power
- 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.
— David Heath, CEO