COVID-19 fuels company growth of Israeli automated payment processing co.

The Israeli company Tipalti, which offers automated payment processing options, announced Tuesday that it raised $150 million in funding. The company has seen growth due to a surge in online payments during the coronavirus crisis. 

The Hebrew word “tipalti” translates as “I handled it.” The company currently manages some $12 billion in annual transaction volume and serves more than 1,000 firms – among them GoDaddy, Perion and Twitter. 

“We process hundreds of millions of dollars,” Tipalti CEO Chen Amit said in 2015. “Trust is everything.” 

He added, “We don’t just provide technology. We handle all the changes in financial regulations as well.”

Accounts payable-related tasks consume an average of 1,040 hours per year for 27% of medium to large businesses, Tipalti and Censuswide discovered in a study, which included more than 250 companies. The study also showed that 57% of such businesses report needing 520 annual hours of human labor spent on the same need.

The company alleviates around 80% of these working hours through a combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning. 

While Tipalti plans to use the most recent funding round to extend its global presence, it is also keeping a percentage at home – and inside the homes of its staff.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has had most of its staff working at home. As such, Amit said that the company has funded babysitters and even home office furniture in some cases, to ensure the staff can work at full capacity. 

The company recently hired 100 new staffers at a time when most companies are laying off employees. The team already consisted of 350 employees. 

“We believe that Tipalti has the potential to become a much larger company within the Midmarket space,” Durable Capital Partners founder Henry Ellenbogen said. 

This was the firm that led this round, which included investments from Greenoaks Capital and current investors 01 Advisors.

Noting that he saw the value Tipalti brings with it when he ran Twitter, founding partner of 01 Advisors Dick Costolo said he is pleased to have the opportunity to increase “our investment” at a time during which companies modernize “the way they operate.”

“Tipalti is clearly needed,” Amit said, “and this enables us to be ready for all that demand.”