跨境电子商务税收合规平台Taxdoo筹集了2100万美元的A轮融资

Taxdoo是一家针对跨境电子商务公司构建了所谓的“财务合规自动化平台”的创业公司，已筹集了2100万美元的新资金。

风险投资公司Accel领导A轮融资，由Visionaries Club，20VC和现有投资者HTGF参与。这笔资金将用于Taxdoo的增长（包括国际扩张），以增​​加雇用，研发，销售和客户支持。 Accel的Harry Nelis已加入Taxdoo董事会。

值得一提的是，Harry Stebbings的20VC入选名单是因为这位由播客转变为VC的人最初表示，他的微型基金针对的是各个阶段的美国初创公司，因此，他作为欧洲VC Stride合伙人的角色没有任何冲突。 Taxdoo总部位于德国汉堡。 Stebbings在WhatsApp消息中澄清说：“ 20VC本质上主要在美国进行投资，但也可以在Stride没有投资的地方（在英国和巴黎以外的欧洲任何地方）进行投资。”

成立于2016年5月的三位创始人Christian Koenigsheim，Matthias Allmendinger和Roger Gothmann在汉堡大学获得了金融博士学位后，Taxdoo希望利用自动化来解决跨境电子支付所面临的税收和合规负担在各种市场和平台（例如Amazon，eBay和Shopify）上销售的商业公司。看到这些业务面临着围绕增值税，会计和其他合规性要求而日益复杂的问题，数据跨多个在线系统孤立。

Taxdoo将这些数据放在一个地方，然后使用其自身的技术在整个欧洲自动执行交易级别的数据提取，税收计算和归档。客户还可以通过该平台与他们的税务顾问合作，减少其他合规负担，包括Intrastat申报。

Taxdoo的克里斯蒂安·科尼希斯海姆（Christian Koenigsheim）告诉我：“尽管从营销和物流的角度来看，在欧洲各地销售产品变得越来越容易，但由此产生的合规性义务（例如会计或增值税）却是卖方的噩梦。”

“使用电子表格手动处理这些问题是灾难的根源。为了解决这个问题，我们利用内部专家的知识来自动化整个过程-从数据收集到在不同国家/地区提交增值税申报表以及将交易整合到卖方的会计系统中”。

科尼希斯海姆说，一个典型的Taxdoo客户在不同的市场和自己的商店里销售产品，年收入约为5到1000万欧元。他说：“我们最大的客户是年收入超过1.5亿欧元的全球消费品牌。”

例子包括D2C品牌，例如air up和YFood或电子商务公司OmniDeal和sellvin。 “特别是，我们与税务专家，ERP系统和电子商务机构合作，帮助他们为客户处理这些复杂的问题，” Koenigsheim补充说。

“我们的秘密在于，我们从头到尾使整个工作流程自动化。首先，使用我们的自动连接器汇总来自不同渠道（如市场，商店和ERP系统）的数据。我们的系统[然后]根据所有适用的规定分析数据，并准备整个欧盟所需的申报表，这些申报表由国际税务合作伙伴网络使用我们创建的便捷软件解决方案提交。”

Taxdoo数据也可以导出到卖方的会计系统，使他们可以更轻松地与本地税务顾问进行协作。

同时，可寻址市场正在快速增长，这在一定程度上得益于大流行期间数字化的加速发展和电子商务的增长。 Taxdoo引用的数据显示，跨境交易现在约占西欧和斯堪的纳维亚半岛电子商务交易总额的25％，并且还在上升。

Accel的Harry Nelis暗示说：“随着蓬勃发展的电子商务环境以及各种规模的公司希望在国际上销售其产品和服务，我们迫切需要整合财务和税收合规性。 Taxdoo的创始人汇集了在税收，财务和软件方面的独特经验，我们很高兴与他们合作，将Taxdoo打造为定义类别的公司。”

Taxdoo, a startup that has built what it calls an “automated platform for financial compliance” aimed at cross-border e-commerce companies, has raised $21 million in new funding.

Leading the Series A round is venture capital firm Accel, with participation from Visionaries Club, 20VC and existing investor HTGF. The funding will be invested in Taxdoo’s  growth — including international expansion– increased hiring, R&D, sales, and customer support. Accel’s Harry Nelis has joined the Taxdoo board.

The inclusion of Harry Stebbings’ 20VC is noteworthy, as the podcaster-turned-VC originally said his micro fund was targeting U.S. startups across various stages, and therefore there wasn’t any perceived conflict with his role as a partner at European VC Stride. Taxdoo is based out of Hamburg, Germany. “20VC essentially invests largely in the U.S. but can also invest where Stride does not, anywhere in Europe outside of the U.K. and Paris,” clarified Stebbings in a WhatsApp message.

Founded in May 2016, after its three founders — Christian Koenigsheim, Matthias Allmendinger, and Roger Gothmann — finished their PhDs in finance at the University of Hamburg, Taxdoo wants to use automation to meet the tax and compliance burden faced by cross-border e-commerce companies that sell on various marketplaces and platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Shopify. This sees those businesses facing increasing complexity around VAT, accounting and other compliance requirements, with data siloed across multiple online systems.

Taxdoo brings that data into a single place and then uses its own tech to automate transaction-level data ingestion, tax calculation and filings across Europe. Customers can also collaborate with their tax advisors through the platform and reduce other compliance burdens, including Intrastat filings.

“While it has become easier and easier to sell products across borders in Europe from a marketing and logistics standpoint, the resulting compliance obligations – like accounting or VAT – are a nightmare for sellers,” Taxdoo’s Christian Koenigsheim tells me.

“Handling these issues manually using spreadsheets is a recipe for disaster. To solve this problem, we’ve used our in-house expertise to automate the entire process – from the collection of data to the filing of VAT returns in different countries and the integration of transactions into the seller’s accounting system”.

Koenigsheim says a typical Taxdoo customer sells products on different marketplaces and their own shop, with annual revenues of around €5-10 million. “Our largest customers are global consumer brands with annual revenues of €150 million and above,” he says.

Examples include D2C brands like air up and YFood or e-commerce companies OmniDeal and sellvin. “Among others, we partner with tax professionals, ERP systems, and e-commerce agencies to help them handle these complex issues for their clients,” adds Koenigsheim.

“Our secret sauce is that we automate the entire workflow from end-to-end. This starts with the aggregation of data from different channels like marketplaces, shops, and ERP systems using our automated connectors. Our system [then] analyses data under all applicable regulations and prepares the required returns across the EU, which are filed by an international network of tax partners using a convenient software solution created by us”.

Taxdoo data can also be exported to a seller’s accounting system, enabling them to more easily collaborate with local tax advisors.

Meanwhile, the addressable market is growing fast, in part helped by accelerated digitisation during the pandemic and the growth of e-commerce. Taxdoo cites data showing that cross-border transactions now represents approximately 25% of total e-commerce transactions in Western Europe and Scandinavia, and is rising.

Cue statement from Accel’s Harry Nelis: “With a booming e-commerce landscape and companies of all sizes looking to sell their products and services internationally, we see an acute need for integrated financial and tax compliance. Taxdoo’s founders bring together unique experience at the intersection of tax, finance and software and we are excited to work with them to build Taxdoo into a category defining company”.