Estonian start-up Erply raises $2M from US and European VCs

Funding

Top tier US and European venture capitalists and business angels have participated in a first round funding in Estonian software start-up Erply.

The money came from Redpoint, Index Ventures and the entrepreneurs and angel investors Marten Mickos, former CEO of MySQL, Kenny van Zant, SVP and Chief Product Strategist at SolarWinds, Zack Urlocker, former EVP Products at MySQL, Aydin Senkut, Dave McClure and The Accelerator Group.

The funding will be used to expand Erply’s customer base in key European markets and fund its upcoming expansion into the US. Satish Dharmaraj of Redpoint and Index Ventures partner Saul Klein will both join Erply’s Board of Directors.

The company, led by CEO Kris Hiiemaa, was founded in 2009 in Estonia by four experienced business software developers. It is revenue generating, profitable and has attracted a wide variety of customers, including car dealerships, toy shops and restaurants.

Erply’s software covers business functions, including bookkeeping, customer relationship management and stock control. It is built on the latest web technologies, allowing small businesses to easily integrate Erply and rapidly scale-up their operations.

While the $39 billion market for this type of application is currently dominated by major players like SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and Oracle, their products are too costly and complex for the majority of small businesses. Erply’s application is available for an average monthly subscription of €55, a small fraction of what its competitors charge.

Erply co-founder Kris Hiiemaa believes the experience of the new investors will prove pivotal in building up the company. “The main value in this funding round is in the enormous insight, experience and expertise our investors bring to Erply. Individually, each VC and angel has an incredible track record of identifying cutting-edge tech start-ups with fast-growth potential and helping them flourish.”

Redpoint partner and co-founder of Zimbra, a web-based email service, Satish Dharmaraj, “Erply is to ERP [Enterprise Resource Planning) what Zimbra was to email and collaboration. Having seen how rapidly Zimbra replaced Exchange and Outlook as an email solution for businesses for all sizes, I see promising synergies in the game change that Erply is set to do.”  

Erply is incorporated in the UK and has its headquarters in Tallinn. Erply’s software is already available in seven languages and is fully customised for each geographic location’s particular tax laws.