Airbase Inc., a cloud startup that helps companies manage business spending such as employee expenses and supplier fees, today said it has snagged a $23.5 million investment led by Bain Capital Ventures.

The cash injection tops off a year in which Airbase claims to have quadrupled annual recurring revenues.

The startup’s rapid growth helped it lure several other investors to its latest raise besides Bain, including Okta Inc. co-founder Frederic Kerrest and former eBay Inc. chief operating officer Maynard Webb. Airbase has raised more than $30 million to date.

The niche in which Airbase competes, spending management software, was already a crowded area when the startup launched three years ago. There are many tools out there that help automate tasks such as issuing corporate credit cards, approving employee spending requests and processing invoices.

Airbase’s edge is that it provides these features in a single platform that removes the need for accounting teams to toggle among multiple different applications. The improved usability translates into productivity gains, according to the startup. Airbase said its platform can shorten accounting departments’ month-end close process by days.

The startup provides features for automating other tasks as well. Airbase has an expense management system that allows employees to put in a request for a purchase and then directs their request to the appropriate member of the accounting team based on the size of the expenditure. For supplier bills, the platform provides a centralized console where finance teams can manage outstanding obligations.

Managing business spending is a foundational part of just about every organization’s operations, which means there’s a big addressable market for tools that can ease the task. Airbase will use the new funding to try to capture more of that opportunity. 

“This new round recognizes the significant potential of this important market,” Airbase Chief Executive Officer Thejo Kote said in a blog post. “It will give us the bandwidth to increase the size of our team, invest in product development, and open a New York City office.”

Software-as-a-service startups are off to a strong start in 2020 as far as funding is concerned. And if 2019 is any indication, prospects may be particularly bright for enterprise-focused startups this year. A January report from PitchBook Data Inc. revealed that venture capitalists bet $30.42 billion on business technology during 2019 versus $23.26 billion in the consumer technology market.

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