IDA Ireland chair joins Outmin board after start-up raises €4m

The funding will allow the start-up to accelerate hiring, advance its AI offerings and scale to accommodate its growing clientele, it said.

Dublin-based bookkeeping automation start-up Outmin has raised €4m and welcomed IDA Ireland chair Feargal O’Rourke as the new chair of its board.

The funding round, led by Praetura Ventures, will allow the start-up to hire more engineers, advance its artificial intelligence offerings and scale itself to accommodate its growing clientele, it said.

The fundraise also enables the company to expand its reach, especially to the north-west of England, where it already has an emerging presence.

Outmin was founded by Ross Hunt and David Kelleher in 2020 and has business spread across Ireland and the UK.

The former Start-up of the Week aims to eliminate manual data entry by automating financial workflows, including document collection, invoice processing, reconciliation and reporting. It ranked third on the 2023 LinkedIn top start-ups list in Ireland.

“This funding marks an exciting new phase for Outmin,” said Hunt, who is also the CEO of the company.

“It will enable us to continue our growth in Ireland and expand our presence in the UK, especially in the north-west which is a hotbed of activity. It’s about delivering a real system that changes how firms operate.”

O’Rourke, the latest addition to the board, was also the managing partner at PwC Ireland for nearly a decade. His appointment signals Outmin’s commitment to solving long-standing industrial challenges, the company said.

“Outmin is building something accounting firms truly need,” said O’Rourke. “It’s not a short-term fix, it’s a foundational shift.

“The team understands where the gaps are in the current model and they’re delivering a system that helps firms scale and focus their people on higher-value work.”

Outmin claims to have more than 350 businesses under its clientele, with partnerships established with 11 accounting practices.

According to the company, these businesses report having saved more than 200 hours annually on bookkeeping, while some partner firms report up to €10,000 in additional revenue by re-allocating existing staff to higher-priority tasks.

“Every accounting firm is facing pressure to do more with less,” said Kelleher, the chief revenue officer at the start-up.

“The future belongs to firms that invest in better systems, not just people. We’re already partnered with forward-thinking firms like Nexio, who are providing valuable insights to help us optimise our product and create something that gives accounting practices a real competitive advantage.”

Last year, Outmin attended the global start-up and tech event Slush as part of an Enterprise Ireland delegation.

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