Israeli fintech firm Stampli, an AI-powered accounts payable automation developer, has successfully raised $61 million in a Series D venture funding round. The round was spearheaded by Blackstone and featured the participation of existing investors Insight Partners, SignalFire, Bloomberg Beta and NextWorld Capital. This latest funding round takes the total amount raised by the company to over $148 million.
Founded in 2015, Stampli specializes in AI-powered solutions designed to streamline accounts payable automation and ePayment services. The company has gained recognition as a rapidly growing provider in this field. Stampli’s AI technology plays a pivotal role in simplifying financial tasks such as invoice capture, expense allocation, approval routing, and fraud detection.
Integrating AI into financial operations presents a formidable challenge for CFOs in today’s business environment, as they must grapple with the dual objectives of optimizing operational efficiency and reducing costs while simultaneously mitigating the risks associated with adopting AI technologies. This involves not only selecting the right AI solutions but also ensuring that they seamlessly integrate with existing financial systems.
Serving a larger audience
Stampli’s prior success with its 1,300 existing clients serves as a reassuring beacon for CFOs, demonstrating that AI is not just a technological novelty but a tangible asset capable of delivering substantial improvements in financial workflows.
“Before we brought on Stampli, our AP team was nervous that the AI would be a threat rather than an asset to their jobs,” recalled Amanda Brown, Controller of Wenspok Companies. “But with [Stampli’s] Billy the Bot now performing such time-consuming manual tasks as coding invoices to the correct general ledger accounts, the AP team has seen their responsibilities shift to projects that add much greater value to the business. Today, we think of Billy as a team member, not an AI.”
The company’s successful fundraising achievement is particularly noteworthy in light of the challenges confronting the Israeli fintech sector. A recent report from Fintech.IL highlighted a 73% decline in the sector’s performance during Q3 2023 compared to end-of-year 2022. Compared to the previous year’s impressive $2.98 billion and the record-breaking $7.5 billion in 2021, Israeli fintech companies have only raised $784 million in funding during the current year, with estimates suggesting it will reach approximately $1 billion by year-end. Even if it manages to reach that estimate, fintech funding would still end up a staggering 66% lower than 2022.
Eyal Feldman, CEO and Co-founder of Stampli, believes that current economic challenges have actually worked to the company’s benefit, in a way. “In this macroeconomic environment, where companies have to be more careful with their spend and their cash, Stampli became the solution of choice due to our superb user experience, super-fast implementation and deep ERP integration capabilities,” he said.
The recent Series D funding round was led by Blackstone, a global asset management firm with significant interests in various companies and real estate assets. The investor’s strategic focus centers on investments that promote the digitization of the economy and harness the potential of AI.
“We chose Blackstone, the largest alternative asset manager in the world, as our partner because of our shared vision and experience driving operational efficiencies through best practices, technology and AI,” continued Feldman. “I am honored that they see a similar fit in our company. Together, we will make Stampli one of the largest FinTech companies in the world.”
