Xero Keeps Growing and Growing

Xero’s revenue, customers and business operations doubled over the past 12 months, according to the company’s latest market update released recently.

The maker of “beautiful accounting software” saw its revenue grow from $9.3 million to more than $19 million and its offshore revenue is currently 51 percent of its monthly committed revenue. In addition, Xero increased its staff, acquired two companies and opened new offices in Auckland, Wellington, Melbourne, Canberra, Milton Keynes and San Francisco. The number of paying Xero customers also grew to more than 78,000 from 36,000.

“What’s really interesting about this number is that we held a market release in January and reported that we had 60,000 paying customers at the time,” says Jamie Sutherland, President, U.S. Operations at Xero. We’ve gained 18,000 customers in over two months. That’s quite a growth rate.”

Growth seems to be the opportune word for Xero. The market results show growth from last year and Sutherland says the company plans to continue focusing on growth moving forward. Xero recently raised over $35 million to aid in its growth agenda and has been working with add-on partners for third-party apps that will integrate seamlessly with their application and meet U.S. product requirements.

Xero’s software is unique in that it is completely online with daily reconciliation for more than 5,000 automatic bank feeds. Xero’s software also undergoes a very rigorous design and usability testing process, ensuring that it is ideal for small businesses, said Sutherland. In addition, new features are released constantly for users. Due to Xero’s online nature, service interruption and downloads are not necessary for users, creating a seamless experience.

Xero has processed more than $100 billion total in customer transactions, $20 billion of which occurred in the last quarter.

Xero’s Regional Customer Growth
Country FY2011     FY2012     Growth
New Zealand 23,000      47,000      104%
Australia 6,000 16,000      166%
United Kingdom 5,000 11,000      120%
United States/Global   2,000 4,000 100%