Cloud based accounting software giant Xero (ASX:XRO) unveiled e-invoicing infrastructure business Tickstar as its latest acquisition.

Swedish-based Tickstar was like Xero when it founded in 2007 and will cost Xero up to SEK150 million ($22.9 million) to snap up.

However only 40 per cent of this will be upfront – the remainder will be based on product development and performance milestones.

“The acquisition of Tickstar is an important step in our strategy to help small businesses digitise more of their workflows and get paid faster using cloud-based technologies,” declared Xero chief product officer Anna Curzon.

“As more governments around the world adopt e-invoicing, Tickstar’s technology will help our customers comply with existing and future legislation and realise the many benefits that e-invoicing brings.”

 

What other acquisitions has Xero made recently?

Xero’s latest acquisition comes as part of its shift from being a pure-play accounting platform to being an all-round financial platform for businesses.

The Tickstar acquisition comes just three weeks since it acquired workforce management platform Planday which provides a real-time view of staffing needs and payroll costs alongside key business performance metrics.

Last August, Xero announced the acquisition of Australian cloud-based lending platform Waddle. And in 2018 it bought Canadian data capture solution Hubdoc.

As of December last year, Xero boasted 2.45 million subscribers – of which over a million were in Australia, 414,000 in New Zealand, 638,000 in the UK and 251,000 in the US. It made a half yearly profit after tax of $34.5 million and revenue of $409.8 million.

Xero shares rose very slightly this morning but are miles ahead of where they were when the company first listed in Australia back in 2012 at $4.65.

A $5,000 investment back then would now be worth over $130,000.
 

Xero (ASX:XRO) share price chart

 

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