Fastbill is sold to Canada

The startup has a new owner. As the fintech announced, the Canadian start-up Freshbooks has acquired the Frankfurt.

Frankfurt-based Fastbill is now owned by Freshbooks, a Canadian startup with unicorn status. In the process, Fastbill's employees and offerings will be acquired and integrated into Freshbooks. Fastbill founder René Maudrich is also to remain CEO and managing director of Freshbooks Germany. He comments on the purchase: "The acquisition of Fastbill by Freshbooks is a win-win for everyone. With combined competencies, we can expand our offering and meet the needs of small business owners in Germany and across Europe even more specifically and quickly."

Both Fintechs support small and medium-sized enterprises as well as self-employed persons in accounting. Maurich founded Fastbill in 2011 together with Christian Häfner. Four years ago, the Frankfurt-based company raised money from investors for the first time. Currently, the start-up has customers in 16 European countries, which Fastbill is now taking to Freshbooks. The Canadians have only recently raised 120 million US dollars and thus received a billion-dollar valuation. Some of the money is certainly now going into the acquisition of Fastbill; nothing is known about an exact sum, but it is likely to be in the upper double-digit millions, according to Finance Forward but is likely to be in the upper double-digit millions.

Freshbooks CEO Don Epperson is excited about the combination of the companies, "Fastbill has a very similar philosophy and company culture to us, so the acquisition wonderfully strengthens our strategy to continue to grow globally." The fintech offers its platform in 160 countries and has offices in Canada, Croatia, Mexico, the Netherlands and the US.

In a personal statement, Maurich said that "even though Fastbill is now part of a larger international company," customers "won't take a step backwards" but can rely on "dedicated customer service, stability and continuous product improvements."