With a Series C on the books, Blue dot (formerly VATBox) will expand operations across North America and double its workforce over the next year. The company offers an AI VAT recovery automation system, among other solutions.
The tax compliance platform Blue dot today announced it has secured a Series C worth $32 million. Formerly known as VATBox, the Tel Aviv company currently maintains additional offices throughout Europe and the U.S.
Blue dot uses artificial intelligence to automate tasks related to a company’s employee spend data for VAT, taxable employee benefits and corporate income tax.
“A hierarchy of dependent AI models is absolutely necessary to ensure proper tax and accounting compliance,” Blue dot CEO and Founder Isaac Saft said. “Blue dot’s technology has moved to a point where it assembles transactional data more effectively than the human brain.”
Blue dot says it plans to use the funding to generally scale its operations. It currently employs roughly 100 people across its offices and hopes to double that headcount over the next 12 months.
The funding round was led by Ibex Investors and Lutetia Technology Partners. Previous investors Viola, Target Global and Lamaison Partners also joined. The latest round brings Blue dot’s total funding to roughly $82 million.
As part of the deal, Ibex’s Gal Gitter and Lutetia’s Rob Perdue will join Blue dot’s board.
“We believe Blue dot can change the way organizations worldwide manage accounting and its tax implications for their expenses,” Gitter said in a statement. “There’s been a major market shift away from centralization of enterprise functions, including procurement. As that accelerates, more companies will be looking for ways to replace costly and complex manual processes with digital, automated solutions that use data and AI to essentially enable transactions to report themselves, which Blue dot delivers.”
Blue dot Shows Steady Growth in the Fintech Space
VATBox launched in 2013 with founders Isaac Saft and Noam Guzman serving as CEO and president, respectively. It raised its first funding round, a $6 million Series A, in the same year. It raised another two growth rounds in 2015 and 2017. In 2015, it was selected to join the MasterCard accelerator Start Path.
Value-added taxes are in place in most countries around the world. They are used in all OECD countries except the United States. Most American states charge a sales tax instead. Sometimes known as a goods and service tax (GST) it is levied at each stage of a product’s or service’s development. Many countries maintain complex systems through which this tax can be reclaimed in some situations. International laws add further intricacies.
Exciting news! VATBox has announced expanding its ongoing partnership with SAP Concur through the launch of Concur® Tax Assurance by VATBox.https://t.co/NiQLDMCgB3 pic.twitter.com/P7Nom404hz
— VATBox (@VATBox) January 25, 2021
Blue dot has maintained steady growth over its lifetime, partnering recently with SAP Concur to integrate its service with the audit and risk platform’s offerings.
“Since our founding, we’ve enjoyed tremendous recognition and a high rate of adoption for our platform as part of a larger global tax compliance digitalization trend,” Saft said. “SAP Concur chose Blue dot as its exclusive integrated tax assurance solution to be deployed for their client portfolio. It took 12 months of technical due diligence and compliance evaluation in a competitive environment. We’ve secured funding from top U.S. investors to drive the next phase of our growth strategy. It’s an exciting time at Blue dot, and we’re incredibly grateful to our customers, partners and investors.”
Henry Kronk is the former Managing Editor of Corporate Compliance Insights. His previous reporting has appeared in Exclaim!, the Burlington Free Press, International DJ, eLearning Inside and more. He produced the radio show Code Burst — an investigation into a coding bootcamp that sought to retrain out-of-work coal miners for jobs in tech — for CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal.
