Avise

When we were first introduced to Graham Stanton and Edgar Thomas, we were impressed with their desire to disrupt the sleepy world of financial accounting. For thousands of years, accountants have been the source of ground truth for businesses. But in a world where businesses require up-to-date information to make fast decisions, today’s tools available to accountants remain highly outdated (rife with double-entry bookkeeping that is rarely audited and several weeks of close processes).

Off the back of a 20 year relationship that began in Harvard’s dorm rooms, Graham and Edgar set out to build a software startup that would bring the CFO’s office to the 21st century. Graham’s previous experience co-founding Peloton, where he ran finance and marketing, and Edgar’s career in financial accounting combine to re-imagine the long overlooked accounting systems for modern enterprises.

Headquartered in New York City with the hub of operations coming out of St Louis, Avise is building bookkeeping and accounting software to revolutionize the tools used by accounting professionals. Today’s accounting softwares are either basic bookkeeping programs for small businesses (Quickbooks) or large ERP systems (SAP, Oracle, Netsuite), which are complex and expensive to run. Avise fills the gap in the middle, supercharging fast-growing startups and mid-sized companies with accounting tools to provide a single source of truth at all stages of growth, through IPO and beyond.

“I’ve had a career long frustration with back-office software. In the early days, it really matters. It’s hard to get insight into the business and know what you need to do to check all the right boxes for accounting and compliance. There’s a gap in the market that became an obsession in the back of my mind” - Graham Stanton.

In August 2020, Avise came out of stealth mode, closing a $5.5m seed round led by Fintech Collective, with participation from Raga Partners, GGV and Peloton co-founders.

Current Status: Active