SME financial software platform Wave has been acquired by H&R block for a solid CDN $537 million, according to a blog post on their site. The Canada based firm is also an OurCrowd portfolio company and represents a series of big exits for the crowdfunding platform.
Launched in 2010, the founders of WaveApps sought to simplify “the lives of small business owners.” WaveApps provides a host of services managed by their software including payments, accounting, invoicing, payroll and more.
WaveApps co-founder and CEO Kirk Simpson said the acquisition was the start of an exciting new chapter:
“Many of you will be familiar with H&R Block. They are one of the largest tax preparation companies in the world, with a purpose to provide help and inspire confidence in their clients and communities everywhere. The team at H&R Block has an inherent calling to help others, as more than 23 million tax returns are prepared by or through them annually.
Many of those customers are entrepreneurs that are working with a trusted H&R Block tax professional to assist with their most important and stressful annual financial event of the year — tax time. We are excited to bring that level of scale and expertise into the Wave ecosystem in the coming quarters and years. By helping with tax, we are confident that we can serve small business owners even more effectively.”
For OurCrowd, the acquisition of WaveApps follows on the heels of several big IPOs for portfolio holdings. Recently, OurCrowd investors benefited by the IPO of Uber and Beyond Meat. The two company’s IPOed within a week of each other.
Next in the Queue is BOL, or Breath of Life, and Insurtech Lemonade. BOL is a Cannabis focused firm that is preparing to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange at a valuation of around $1 billion.
Lemonade is revving up to go public in the US at a valuation of over $2 billion.
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