Tiime, a French fintech specializing in accounting software, has chosen not to call on any external investors. This did not prevent it from doubling its revenues in 2023, a sign of a solid business model, focused on customer experience.
A pioneer of online accounting
Tiime develops a suite of applications and software that cover the entire accounting chain, ranging from electronic invoicing to cash flow management, purchasing management and even the professional account. If the platform is positioned as a major player in the digital transformation of the accounting sector in France, it is notably thanks to the expertise of its management.
Tiime’s ancestor, l-expert-comptable.com, was created in 2009 and established itself at the time as a pioneer in online accounting expertise. But the team is then faced with a major problem: how to retrieve its customers’ bank statements, how to interact with them directly from the platform? To resolve this problem, the company is developing an internal tool which has been enormously successful.
In 2015, this tool became a spin-off, then a real company called Tiime. “ From 2015 to 2018, we are redeveloping the tool from scratch. It must become universal and correspond to all types of entrepreneurs and accounting firms », Explains Maxime Digue, co-founder of Tiime, in an interview with Presse-citron.
Three axes are then privileged: the mobile experience, the convergence between banking, payment and accounting uses and finally, artificial intelligence (AI). In 2017, Tiime launched the first accounting AI in France, based on machine learning. Its marketing, in the form of a subscription, begins in 2018.
What does Tiime offer, exactly?
Defining itself as a leading company in accounting software, Tiime offers its users the ability to coordinate their bank accounts. “ Let’s say you have an account at BNP, Caisse d’Épargne and Qonto, for example, you can synchronize them all. From there, our algorithms recognize them and transform them into accounting entries », explains the co-founder. This means that the user no longer has to manually enter cash movements, as the system takes care of this automatically.
Likewise, the platform is able to automatically manage supporting documents such as restaurant vouchers. All you have to do is take a photo of them and the AI will analyze the document and automatically extract important information such as the amount, date or supplier. This data is then linked to the corresponding banking transactions, without any manual entry.
Functionalities are also offered for invoicing and collection, drastically simplifying administrative management. From their smartphone, the user can create and send quotes or invoices directly to their customers, avoiding having to use a computer or print and send the documents physically. It is also possible to generate payment links so that customers can pay quickly online.
Finally, other modules complete the offer, for expense reports for example. A complete dashboard also provides an overview of cash flow, customer monitoring and all key company data.
A long-term vision
The route taken by Tiime to develop all its tools is rare in the fintech field. The company has in fact opted for a bootstrapping development model, meaning that no external investors are involved in its activities. If such a strategy comes with its share of difficulties, such as budgetary limitations in recruitment or marketing, the company absolutely does not regret it.
“ We know our market very well and want to operate for the long term. Investors must be profitable quickly, regardless of customer satisfaction. The objective is rapid cash out, and the question of the increase in prices, sometimes crazy, arrives very quickly », Estimates Maxime Digue.
Tiime, for its part, intends to keep its prices at a reasonable level. The monthly subscription is currently set at 14.99 euros. Since September 3, the company has even revolutionized its business model by making all its applications free for users subscribing to its professional account. In the same vein, the firm does not have the ambition to internationalize, unlike many of its competitors.
“ Accounting is a complex and very local sector, different in all countries. The barrier to entry is not simple for making good accounting software. The market in France is already very big, and we believe we can offer a lot of additional things », confides the manager.
It’s a dynamic that works: in 2023, Tiime has doubled its revenues, reaching a turnover of 32 million euros« while maintaining impressive profitability “. It has more than 200,000 customers in France.
It’s time for generative AI
Like many companies in the tech sector, Tiime is closely interested in the development of large language models (LLM). “ Today, we are able to perform VAT calculations almost instantly and automatically. When done manually, that is to say in 90% of cases, this task can take 20 minutes », Supports Maxime Digue.
Thus, it continues to explore a large number of use cases, and is planning new technology-based features from next year, such as the possibility of generating company statuses when accountants must create boxes. Also on the program is the possibility for an entrepreneur to pay their employees’ pay slips in a single click.
