At the end of 2022, Noah Pepper, a former Stripe business leader for the Asia Pacific region, founded Multiplier, a startup whose goal was to sell software to tax accountants. But shortly after Chatgpt was published, it happened that the AI can change the way in which professional services companies use technology.
“I realized that I was doing a little bit of the wrong tree trying to build a SAAS business, and I should discover 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 improved the company with AI capabilities built by multiplier.
It quickly became clear that the strategy was working. By eliminating manual work, the multiplier AI tools helped Citrine more than double their benefit margins. Thus, Pepper decided that instead of creating software for accounting companies, the multiplier would acquire existing professional services companies and set them off with their AI solution.
Today, multiplier, which is now called Multiplier participationsIt announces that he raised a total of $ 27.5 million in seed funding and the A. Lightspeed Venture Partners series directed the A -series funding round for the startup, after the Round of Multiplier, led by Ribbit Capital with the participation of SV Angel.
The multiplier is part of a growing trend: the startups that acquire existing and climbing service companies with AI. The PE -style deployment strategy has recently gained popularity among VCs, with investors such as General Catalyst, Sell gilProsper and Khosla Ventures The support startups that develop AI solutions and integrate them into existing people focused on people.
“Until the Ai existed, nothing was possible,” said Lightspeed’s partner, Justin Overdorff. In addition to the multiplier, Lightspeed has invested in three other AI deployment companies that have been announced.
Overdorff is convinced that this strategy is more effective when the startup buys small businesses because they are more open to changing their existing processes. “If you go to an accounting company that has 200 accountants, it is unlikely to be adopted at a rate (high).”
Before being purchased by multiplier, Citrine was a tax accounting entity of 12 people. Not only did the multiplier help increase its margins, but also helped Citrine grow, Overdorff said.
The purpose of the multiplier is to expand beyond offering personal tax compliance to create a competitor fueled by the AI in the four major accounting companies.
Pepper said that the multiplier seeks to buy large recurring service companies admitted by people who are enthusiastic to integrate and help personalize the IA to bring their business to the next level.
“It’s a bit like a risk -style business where you want to make a commitment to this leader you think is amazing in its category,” Pepper said.
