Sequoia Backs Rillet's $25M Round to Automate General Ledger Systems With AI

For an accounting department, the general ledger system stands as the most critical piece of software. It serves as the central repository, consolidating all financial transactions to provide the core data required for generating precise financial statements.

“The general ledger is the very heart of finance operations. Asking a company to replace it is akin to performing open-heart surgery,” remarked Julien Bek, a partner at Sequoia Capital.

Until recently, Bek was convinced that venture capitalists would hesitate to fund startups developing new general ledger software. He explained that convincing customers to switch from established accounting systems is notoriously difficult, and building a viable new ledger business presents immense challenges.

Bek’s perspective shifted when he encountered Rillet. This three-year-old company applies machine learning and generative AI to automate accounting reporting. Rillet’s software directly integrates data from customer banks and platforms like Salesforce, Stripe, Ramp, Brex, and Rippling to produce key financial statements, including balance sheets and income statements.

Rillet’s founder, Nicolas Kopp (pictured above), states that by harnessing machine learning and AI, his company’s platform allows finance teams at medium-sized businesses to complete their monthly or quarterly book closing in mere hours—a task that traditionally took weeks. Before founding Rillet, Kopp served as the U.S. CEO for the European neobank N26.

Since its product launch last year, Rillet has seen its revenue grow fivefold and has onboarded nearly 200 customers. These include high-growth companies like Windsurf, the AI coding assistant reportedly acquired by OpenAI for $3 billion, and Decagon, an AI customer support startup said to be valued at $1.6 billion.

Traditionally, companies of this scale would typically implement NetSuite, a general ledger platform developed in the late 1990s that remains widespread among mid-market firms. However, NetSuite is often criticized for being slow and cumbersome.

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“I estimate about a third of their new business comes from clients replacing NetSuite or similar legacy systems,” Bek said regarding Rillet’s customer base.

It was this specific metric that solidified Sequoia’s decision to invest. “The key indicator I was monitoring was their ability to displace NetSuite. Many companies can attract smaller clients, but winning over larger, established accounts is the true challenge,” Bek noted.

On Wednesday, Rillet announced it has secured a $25 million Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from its existing investors. This new capital infusion arrives just ten months after the company closed a $13.5 million seed and pre-seed round from First Round Capital, Creandum, and Susa Ventures.

Rillet’s AI technology streamlines the implementation process significantly. Where migrating data between ledger systems historically took many months, Kopp stated that Rillet can compress that timeline to approximately four to six weeks. Clients can seamlessly continue using their old platform until they are confident all data has been accurately transferred to Rillet.

Kopp positions Rillet as a competitor to NetSuite and other legacy systems. He claims the company currently faces no direct rival that similarly leverages AI and machine learning to overhaul accounting for the mid-market. Another AI accounting startup, Digits, recently introduced an AI-powered general ledger, but it primarily targets small businesses using QuickBooks and Xero, unlike Rillet’s focus.