Technology
PRnewswire | July 13, 2023
Simply Business, LLC, a Boston-based digital insurance company focused on small businesses, announced today an association with Cerity, a provider of digital-first, direct-to-consumer workers' compensation insurance policies.
Customers can receive quotes for Cerity's workers' compensation insurance on the Simply Business website, bind their policies online, or connect with a licensed insurance agent, who can help ensure their coverage meets their business's needs.
"We are committed to providing small business owners with a wide range of insurance options that cater to their specific needs and preferences," said David Summers, Group CEO of Simply Business. "We're excited to team up with Cerity, who shares our digital-first approach and combines a deep understanding of workers' compensation with expertise in the online insurance purchasing process."
Cerity is a subsidiary of Employers Holdings, Inc., a workers' compensation specialist with an over 100-year history. This offering is currently available to small business owners in Washington D.C. and all 46 states where private carriers are eligible to operate.
"We are thrilled to team up with Simply Business to meet customers where they want to be: online," said Chris Champlin, Vice President of Digital Sales at Cerity. "By leveraging technology, we have created a digital-first experience that makes it easy for small business owners to get the coverage and peace of mind they need so they can focus on running their business."
Simply Business
Simply Business is changing the way small business owners find business insurance by offering customers tailored insurance coverage online. The company began in the United Kingdom and expanded to the United States in 2017, naming Boston home. With thousands of customers, Simply Business has become a leader in the space through its commitment to a customer-first model, focusing heavily on simplicity, choice, and value.
Cerity
Cerity® is a registered trademark of Cerity Services, Inc. Founded with a bold vision to reimagine small business insurance, Cerity empowers business owners to quickly and easily protect their team, their assets, and their livelihood through an online workers' compensation solution. With its digital-first approach, Cerity is transforming the entire process – from purchasing and maintaining coverage to filing a claim – to be simple, fast, and easy. The company's proprietary pricing model produces tailored quotes within seconds and can deliver a new policy in five minutes or less, enabling leaders to get back to what matters most: growing and scaling their operation. Cerity Services, Inc. is a subsidiary of Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EIG), an industry veteran with over 100 years of experience in workers' compensation. Employers Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates throughout the United States, with the exception of four states that are served exclusively by their state funds. Insurance is offered through Employers Insurance Company of Nevada, Employers Compensation Insurance Company, Employers Preferred Insurance Company, Employers Assurance Company, and Cerity Insurance Company, all rated A- (Excellent) by the A.M. Best Company. Not all companies do business in all jurisdictions.
Read More
Technology
Businesswire | August 17, 2023
Bluevine, the leading provider of small business banking solutions, proudly celebrates its ten year journey of delivering checking, lending, and payments services designed specifically for the needs of US-based small businesses from coast-to-coast and across dozens of market sectors. Over the past decade since its inception, Bluevine has built a market leading digital banking platform that has served over 500,000 business owners, surpassed $850 million in deposits, and delivered more than $14 billion in loans to help facilitate growth for its customers. Bluevine’s success has demonstrated that not only can its business mission be rewarding in helping American businesses achieve growth, but its business model can create measurable value for its company, investors, and employees - punctuated by the generation of hundreds of millions in revenue and maintaining a trajectory of approximately 80% YoY revenue growth.
“I am both proud and humbled by Bluevine reaching its 10 year anniversary. This milestone could have only been achieved by all the small business owners, current and former employees, partners, and investors who have supported our vision through the years,” said Eyal Lifshitz, Co-Founder and CEO of Bluevine. “Every decision we make and product we deliver is driven by our unwavering dedication to small businesses - not just to their needs, but to their success. This continues to be our North Star as we set a course to become the most loved small business banking platform in America, in the years ahead.”
Since its formation in 2013, Bluevine has continually evolved as a business and a brand, all while steadily serving as an ally and trusted financial partner for small business owners. Despite facing unprecedented market challenges, from the COVID pandemic through global economic and political turmoil, Bluevine has been steadfast in its conviction to fill the void left by large banks who have traditionally underserved small businesses with limits on both access to capital and the tools to appropriately manage their finances.
Bluevine’s digital banking platform is purpose-built to empower business owners to manage financial operations from the convenience of the Bluevine Business Checking account - freeing up time and resources to allow them to focus on growing their business. Channeling its deep understanding of the challenges SMBs face daily, the Bluevine user experience is central to guiding decision-making on all new products, services, and features that the company brings to market. Over the past year alone, Bluevine has significantly expanded the capabilities of its platform with the addition of international payments, bill pay and accounts payable automation, accountant and bookkeeper access, QuickBooks integration, and more - with a robust pipeline of additional services and enhancements to come.
Contributing to the company’s success is a cohort of seasoned executive leaders with experience at market defining companies such as American Express, Capital One, Chime, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, PayPal, Stripe, and more. Bluevine currently employs a world class team of more than 580 people across its US-based offices in Austin, Salt Lake City, Redwood City, and its Jersey City, NJ headquarters, as well as global locations in Bengaluru, India, and Tel Aviv, Israel. Bluevine’s inclusive, entrepreneurial company culture motivates its passionate team to become that vital banking resource and trusted growth partner to the more than 33 million small businesses that are the lifeblood of the American economy, today and in years to come.
About Bluevine
Bluevine provides small businesses with streamlined banking solutions built for them. Since launching in 2013, Bluevine’s innovative and intuitive products, including business checking, bill pay, and line of credit, have helped over 500,000 business owners save time and money so they can focus on what matters most: growing their business.Bluevine is backed by leading private and institutional investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, 83North, Citi Ventures, ION Crossover Partners, SVB Capital, Nationwide Insurance, and M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Arm). Bluevine is a financial technology company, not a bank. Lines of credit are issued by Celtic Bank, a Utah-chartered Industrial Bank, Member of FDIC. Banking Services provided by Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC.
Read More
Technology
Businesswire | August 04, 2023
Tide, the leading digital business financial platform, has today launched its improved Tide Accounting tool, powered by Sage, to help more small businesses meet their accounting needs directly from one place - their bank account.At present SMEs have to connect multiple solutions to their accounting software - their bank account, payments providers, payroll and more. Managing these systems is complex, time-consuming and costly.
To address this, Tide Accounting has streamlined the process into one user-friendly experience. Tide members can get paid, manage their bills, track their business performance and file their taxes – all via an embedded accounting service directly from their Tide account.The simple tool, launched last year for cash accounting, has now been upgraded to introduce standard accrual-based accounting. It’s the first solution of its kind embedded in a bank account.
Standard accrual-based accounting recognises revenue when it's earned and expenses when they’re incurred. Most businesses in the UK use this method. Adding this service to the platform means Tide solutions are available to many more SMEs.Today’s launch strengthens Tide's mission to save SMEs time and money when running their businesses by adding to the platform’s banking, finance and admin solutions. These already include invoice generation, payment and payroll services and expense cards.
In addition, businesses using Tide Accounting can utilise their records to access credit opportunities via the Tide Partner Credit marketplace. Available to existing Tide Members, Tide Accounting supports SMEs across their business journey, bringing together the following features:
Get Paid
Invoice customers to get paid on time, and spot unpaid invoices. Tide members can automate invoice matching and payment reminders with Invoice Assistant.
Manage bills
Pay bills at the right time to manage cash flow.
Track business performance
Keep financials in check to grow the business by reconciling accounts and balancing the books, directly from the Tide app. Members can categorise transactions, adding VAT rates and receipts.
File taxes
Submit tax returns accurately and securely. This includes automatically generated estimates for sole traders that make it easier to fill in self-assessment tax forms. In addition, members can submit their VAT return via Making Tax Digital with HMRC-compliant software, straight from their Tide account.
New members opening a bank account through Tide’s Company Formation service will benefit from a free six-months access to Tide Accounting.
Vinay Ramani, Chief Product Officer at Tide, said: “For small business owners, accounting can be very time-consuming and intimidating as they have to move transactions from their bank account to their accounting tools. Tide Accounting introduces accrual-based accounting embedded in a bank account - unlocking real convenience and ease of use without the stress and hassle. And once their accounting is done well - those businesses become more attractive for credit opportunities via the Tide Partner Credit marketplace. In this way our strategy to help a small business with their overall banking, finance and admin needs comes to life.”
Neil Watkins, EVP Product at Sage, said: “We know that technology is vital to the creation, survival, and growth of SMEs across all sectors and like Sage, Tide is on a mission to help small business owners get their work done more efficiently by streamlining and simplifying processes.
“We are pleased Tide chose Sage Accounting and Compliance as a Service (ACaaS) as a key component of their Tide Accounting offering, enabling small businesses to do their business banking, bookkeeping and accounting in one seamless experience. Today’s newest development to support accrual based accounting will help even more small businesses simplify their money admin, to radically simplify their essential bookkeeping and accounting tasks.”
About Tide
Tide is the leading provider of UK SME business accounts and one of the fastest-growing FinTechs in the UK. Tide is live in the UK and India with over 500,000 members in the UK and more than 50,000 in India. We’re just getting started! Tide is transforming the business banking market. Our platform not only offers business accounts and related banking services, but also a comprehensive set of highly connected admin tools for businesses, such as full integration with accounting systems (live for our UK members, coming soon to India). Using advanced technology, all solutions are designed with SMEs in mind.
Read More