We’re in The Irish Times today, (June11, 2010), thanks to Gordon Smith and the Irish Times team. Click here to view the article .
BILL STORAGE firm Getitkeepit. com has closed a seed investment round of €400,000 to fund its expansion into Britain this summer and to commercialise its technology as a separate service.
The Dublin-based company runs a free website that lets consumers store and manage their bills online from a single location.
The funding was raised through a combination of Enterprise Ireland and private investors.
Getitkeepit.com chief executive Alan Coleman says the company is also in the early stages of sourcing further investment, most likely from venture capital funds in Britain.
The company intends to have a preliminary launch into the British market later this month.
It is also planning to spin out its technology into a separate entity, called Britebill. This company will supply the underlying technology behind the Getitkeepit.com service to providers in other markets, potentially under different brands.
Coleman says the idea came about after discussions with utility providers and other companies, where it emerged that some had yet to adopt paperless billing systems within their own businesses.
“While Getitkeepit gave birth to it, Britebill ultimately might be the bigger of the two,” Coleman adds. “Getitkeepit.com will be a shop window for what the technology is capable of.”
The current funding round will support the company’s expansion into Britain, as well as investment in sales and marketing for Britebill.
Coleman says the technology has already been built. As a result, it didn’t need large amounts of further investment.
The paperless billing market is beginning to attract broader interest in Ireland and worldwide.
The Seattle-based start-up Doxo, which has yet to launch its service, has raised $5.25 million (€4.3 million) funding. Among its investors is Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos.
Coleman says this points up the gap between the availability of funding for early-stage technology firms here compared to the US.
“There is a marked commentary about us having to beg, borrow and steal €400,000 whereas a company like Doxo can get more than $5 million.
“This says Ireland is capable of producing good companies with innovative products but we need to have the backing of risk capital to execute on those opportunities or else they will be overtaken by other companies who come to the market later.”
Separately, Getitkeepit.com has launched a competition on its website whereby anyone who signs up for its service will enter a draw to have their bills paid for a year.
Great news we’ve have added some nice new features and improvements to GetitKeepit to make your life that little bit easier.
Payments Overview:
The powerful yet simple new feature at the top of your Dashboard is your Payments Overview. At a glance it tells you your total monthly spend, what’s due, what’s overdue and what’s been paid. Very handy for controlling your outgoings. It’s so simple we don’t know why we didn’t think of it sooner.
Checked daily by McAfee :
We are now a certified McAfee SECURE website. We are checked daily to keep the site constantly secure .
New Billers Added:
We are constantly adding new billers to our system were happy to announce this now includes Sky and Perlico. If you have a Biller we don’t yet support, let us know.
One stop shop:
You can now also sign up to paperless billing from the GetitKeepit website for Vodafone Home, Bord Gais (Electricity) and Bord Gais (Gas). Your account will automatically be linked in so you can see all your past and new bills. A simple one stop for your bill analysis, storage and payment. Plus by turning off this paper there will no need for those big messy manila bill folders. Having all your bills in one place has never been easier.
‘Help me to help you!’ as Jerry Maguire said.
We’d like to say a big ‘Thank you’ for all of your feedback. As a result we have completely redesigned the sign up process make sure and tell you friends it’s now even easier to create an account with us. If there is anything else you think we can do better please tell us, we would love to hear from you.