Clear, formerly ClearTax, has acquired CimplyFive, a cloud-hosted application that automates Company Law and SEBI Listing Obligations (LODR) compliance in an all-cash deal. This is Clear’s second company acquisition in 2022 after it acquired Xpedize, an invoice discounting platform in March.
The company informed, it has made four acquisitions so far, which include YBANQ in 2021 and Karvy’s GST business in 2020. With the Series C round, the fintech has raised $140 Mn in equity capital since its inception. Its existing investors include Stripe, Y Combinator, Composite Capital, Elevation Capital, Sequoia Capital, Kora Capital, and Founders Fund.
The company said, constant change in corporate laws, over 100 changes each year in the Companies Act, 2013 and SEBI Regulations, requires enterprises to be agile. There are over 150 tasks for listing companies that necessitate system-based tracking. So far there has been no mechanism to run the secretarial office using technology in a paperless manner with due access controls.
Managing these compliances with the help of cloud-based tech reduces dependencies and removes access barriers, and also helps companies carry out board meetings in a completely transparent and paperless way. Clear’s different offerings have been designed keeping in mind these needs.
The company believes that with this acquisition, Clear’s enterprise customers will have access to comprehensive Compliance Risk Management Software that eliminates many procedural non-compliance under the Companies Act, 2013.
“This acquisition will not just make our compliance suite larger but also stronger. We are committed to serving the CFO’s office comprehensively”, said Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO, Clear.
On the other hand, founded in 2014 by Shankar Jaganathan and invested in by prominent ex-CFOs like Mohandas Pai, Suresh Senapaty, CimplyFive’s clientele includes Fabindia, Premji Invest, Crompton, Tata-Hitachi, TVS Group, Jubilant Group and Wipro, among others.
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The founder and the team of CimplyFive will function as an independent platform for now, as a part of Clear. Founder Shankar J will continue to lead this business. Once integrated, Clear’s expanded product suite will offer enhanced offering for its 5000+ enterprise customers which includes both Indian corporations as well as global enterprises with subsidiaries in India
Enterprises that have global subsidiaries can set up this product for their compliance. This product can also be used by listed companies to do SEBI’s LODR reporting.
According to Clear, the platform has been trusted by over 6 Mn Indians, 50,000 tax professionals, 1 Mn small businesses, and 5,000 large enterprises. For small and large businesses, Clear offers invoicing, GST, range of managed services, and working capital solutions.
For tax professionals, it offers comprehensive GST, Income Tax and TDS solutions. For individuals, it offers tax and wealth management solutions.
Fintech SaaS is one of the fastest-growing opportunities within the larger fintech ecosystem, growing at 40% CAGR between 2021 and 2025 to reach a total market opportunity of $12.6 Bn in India by 2025, according to reports.
