Blog

Co-founders of Yokoy. Standing from L-R: Thomas Inhelder, Melanie Gabriel, Dr. Devis Lussi. Sitting from L to R: Lars Mangelsdorf, Philippe Sahli. | Image credit: Yokoy

Zurich-based Yokoy, a fintech scale-up that offers an all-in-one global spend management platform, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $80M (nearly €72.45M) in its Series B round of funding. The company has now raised total funding of over $107M to date.

In October, 2021, Yokoy had raised $26M in a Series A round led by US investor Left Lane Capital that also saw participation from Balderton Capital.

AI-based translation: How does it work?

Will AI be able to disrupt the translation market? Find it out.

Will AI be able to disrupt the translation market? Find it out. Show Less

Investors in this round

The Series B round was led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Speedinvest, Visionaries Club and Zinal Growth. Existing investors Balderton Capital, Six FinTech Ventures, Left Lane, Swisscom Ventures, and well-known business angels also participated.

Matt Miller, Partner at Sequoia Capital, says, “Businesses across Europe are looking for more efficiency and automation as they work to manage their spending. Many solutions have emerged that are card-centric and only answer one piece of this puzzle. Yokoy is distinctly the only software-first company that brings a complete spend management solution to its customers, using automated processes and including cards. This approach evidenced itself in spectacular customer feedback and impressive growth. We are excited to partner with Yokoy.”

Capital utilisation

Yokoy says it will use the proceeds to expand deeper into Europe and more regions across the globe, as well as increase hiring to support new areas. The company will also invest to enhance its platform by developing its AI, automation and security systems, and advancing its Yokoy Pay offering, all to ensure spend management runs smoothly.

Philippe Sahli, CEO at Yokoy, says, “We’ve proven with Yokoy that spend management needn’t be a cumbersome, expensive process for global companies. By combining all areas of the journey and automating it in one intuitive platform using artificial intelligence, Yokoy is becoming the ultimate spend management partner for businesses. It’s this dedication to solving the pain points for customers that have seen us grow 400 per cent Y-o-Y and reach over 500 enterprise customers.”

One-stop solution for spend management

Founded in 2019 by Devis Lussi, Lars Mangelsdorf, Melanie Gabriel, Philippe Sahli, and Thomas Inhelder, Yokoy offers an all-in-one spend management solution that automates expense, invoicing and credit card processing. The company says, “Our mission is to finally rid the corporate spending world of the legacy processes that have plagued it for decades.”

Powered by machine learning and developed in Yokoy’s AI research lab, the platform automates spend management using artificial intelligence. It combines expense management, supplier invoice management and corporate credit cards into one single intuitive tool, underpinned by up-to-date security. As the platform is self-learning, it also constantly monitors individual workflows and processes to make them more efficient and impactful over time.

Yokoy also says that the platform is able to bring the cost of spending management down by 90 per cent. This enables companies to effectively save time and money while gaining more satisfied employees, and better analytics and control over all spending activities without compromising on features or security. 

Since launching in 2019, the company’s team has grown to five global offices, including the newly opened Amsterdam hub to further support customers in Western Europe, and over 100 employees.

Spend management for growing businesses

Tom Lesche, Partner at Speedinvest, says, “Too many fintech businesses promise AI and automation will improve their customers’ lives without delivering a product that actually suits their needs. Instead, Yokoy is providing value to businesses, like to our portfolio companies Bitpanda and GoStudent, drawing on its in-house AI lab to automate the time-consuming and repetitive tasks of spend management in a way that truly understands the root of the problem for enterprise customers.”

The platform integrates with existing software such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, SAP, Oracle NetSuite, or other third-party providers, allowing for real end-to-end automation across the entire spend management journey. Yokoy also maintains a global network of partners, collaborating closely with KPMG and PwC, among others.

The company supports more than 500 midsize and enterprise businesses. Some of its clients include ASK Chemicals, Bobst, On, Stadler, and Bitpanda, among others.