Singapore-based SimpleAI has secured a US$10 million debt facility to acquire accounting and fund administration firms across Asia Pacific, as the startup shifts from selling automation software alone to owning the service businesses where that software can be deployed.
The company has also announced a US$5 million seed round, with a lead investor already committed, following an earlier US$500,000 pre-seed investment from strategic backers.
Also Read: The future of numbers: Automation’s transformative impact on accounting jobs
SimpleAI did not disclose the names of the investors or the terms of the debt facility.
Founded in 2023 by Roger Tan, Shim Youngjun, and Bryan Sng, SimpleAI builds automation agents for accounting and finance teams. Its software reads ledgers, charts of accounts, and existing workflows, then proposes accounting actions while a deterministic module handles calculations. Accountants can review and approve entries before they are posted.
The funding marks a change in strategy. Rather than relying solely on organic software adoption, SimpleAI now wants to acquire established accounting and fund administration firms, keep their client relationships intact, and introduce AI into their workflows.
A roll-up model for professional services
SimpleAI is targeting firms with annual revenues between US$500,000 and US$5 million, although it said it may consider larger transactions above US$20 million. Its immediate focus is Singapore and Australia, with Hong Kong and Mauritius also under consideration. The company said it has more than US$25 million worth of potential deals under review across Singapore and Australia.
Acquired companies will operate under what SimpleAI calls a Partner-and-Operator model. In practice, this means the acquired firms continue serving existing clients while SimpleAI provides technology and operational support. The company said it will assess acquisition targets based on unit economics, cultural fit, and whether its AI agents can be embedded into the firm’s workflows.
That approach reflects a wider trend in vertical software and professional services, where startups are increasingly trying to control both the software layer and the operating business. The model has already been tested in fragmented sectors such as dental clinics, legal services, bookkeeping, and insurance distribution.
In accounting, the thesis is straightforward: many smaller firms have recurring clients, predictable revenues, and labour-intensive processes, but lack the capital or technical capacity to automate quickly.
For SimpleAI, acquisitions could offer a faster route to distribution than selling software firm by firm. The risk is that running services businesses is operationally heavier than selling software, especially across jurisdictions with different tax, compliance, and reporting requirements.
Why Southeast Asia matters
The Southeast Asian angle is central to the story. Singapore has pushed aggressively to digitise financial infrastructure through initiatives such as InvoiceNow, the nationwide e-invoicing network based on the Peppol framework. SimpleAI has partnered with the Singapore Business Federation and SESAMi in support of the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s InvoiceNow initiative, extending its automation agents to help small and medium-sized enterprises adopt e-invoicing.
This matters because accounting automation depends on the quality and structure of financial data. E-invoicing reduces manual entry, improves audit trails, and gives software platforms cleaner transaction data to process. Singapore has been ahead of much of the region on this front, while markets such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand are also moving towards more formal digital tax and invoicing systems.
Also Read: How Transparently.AI uses Artificial Intelligence to detect accounting manipulation, fraud
Across the region, the broader digital financial services market has continued to expand even as venture funding has tightened. The Google, Temasek, and Bain e-Conomy SEA report estimated that digital financial services revenue in the region could reach around US$60 billion by 2025, driven by payments, lending, insurance, and wealth products. While accounting automation is a smaller segment, it sits underneath many of these activities, particularly for SMEs, funds, and corporate service providers.
The opportunity is also shaped by a funding environment that has become more disciplined. After the 2021 peak, Southeast Asian startup funding fell sharply, forcing companies to show clearer paths to revenue and profitability. In that context, SimpleAI’s acquisition-led strategy is notable: it is using debt to buy revenue-generating firms rather than relying only on venture-backed software growth.
AI in accounting is crowded but still early
SimpleAI is entering a competitive market. Global accounting software incumbents such as Xero, Intuit QuickBooks, Sage, and Oracle NetSuite have been adding AI and automation features to their platforms. In Southeast Asia, SMEs often rely on a mix of cloud accounting tools, outsourced bookkeepers, corporate secretarial firms, and local tax software providers.
The fund administration market is also competitive, with global players such as Vistra, Apex Group, TMF Group, and Tricor serving private funds, special purpose vehicles, and corporate clients across Asia Pacific. SimpleAI’s appointment of Otto Von Domingo as Chief Revenue Officer points to this segment as a priority. Domingo has more than 20 years of experience in private markets and corporate services and previously helped grow Vistra’s funds business in Singapore and Asia-Pacific.
SimpleAI said its platform is deployed across more than 10 markets, supporting more than 1,500 entities and over 2,000 users across more than 18 industries. It is also an app partner of Xero and Intuit QuickBooks, and says it is ISO-certified.
Bryan Sng, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of SimpleAI, said the company was formed after the founders saw how much accounting work still depended on repeated manual reviews and corrections.
“What struck us was how painful that simple need actually was,” he said. “The endless loop of sending a report, catching an error, amending it, reviewing again, and how familiar the excuses had become for late submissions.”
The execution question
SimpleAI’s ambition is not modest. The company said it plans to strengthen its presence in Singapore and Australia, expand into Hong Kong, Mauritius, and Europe, and consider a public-market exit, including a possible IPO, within 24 months.
That timeline will invite scrutiny. Roll-up strategies can look compelling on paper but often depend on disciplined acquisition pricing, smooth integration, staff retention, and consistent service quality. In professional services, client trust and regulatory accuracy matter as much as automation.
Roger Tan, founder and CEO of SimpleAI, said the company would remain selective. “As an AI-native company, our M&A facility lets us acquire businesses where we can deploy our agents into the workflow immediately,” he said. “We are being disciplined and will only move forward when the economics, talent, and cultural fit are right.”
Also Read: Why the future of AI automation belongs to builders who ship
For now, SimpleAI’s bet is that accounting and fund administration firms will not be replaced by AI so much as reshaped by it. If the company can combine automation with acquired distribution, it may build a defensible services platform. If integration proves harder than expected, it will face the same problem as many roll-ups before it: buying revenue is easier than improving the business behind it.
The post SimpleAI secures US$10M debt facility to acquire accounting firms across APAC appeared first on e27.