Crossing the Pond

We've been dying to tell everyone about something for the last few months and it’s great to finally let the cat out of the bag - we can today announce that we're launching a US operation: FreeAgent Inc.

For the estimated 42 million freelancers and self-employed workers currently in the States, tax filing is just as fraught for our US cousins as it is in the UK - so we’ll be in place and ready to help ease the burden for them over the year ahead.

As usual we don’t do things by halves: to kick-start our US plans we’ve acquired a great software company called 60mo, and we’ve raised a further round of growth investment from Lightbank, a high-profile Chicago-based tech fund.

The guys from 60mo have a wealth of knowledge of US accounting and taxes, and have been visiting FreeAgent HQ in Edinburgh for an intensive Rocky-style training montage to prepare them for the task ahead. We’ve force-fed them deep-fried pizzas and Irn Bru, plugged them into the FreeAgent matrix and sent them back to the US unobtrusively tattooed with Saltires.

Before leaving sunny Scotland, the new FreeAgent Inc team solemnly promised to “take the ball and run with it”. Personally, we think that if they’re using a football metaphor they should be kicking the ball, not carrying it - and they can take those ridiculous pads and helmets off while they’re at it as well.

Now that they’re back home, the team is helping us build US versions of the unique, automatic accounting, tax-forecasting and filing features that our UK users enjoy. Unlike software packages such as Quickbooks which are currently widely-used in the US, we’ll be offering an accounting tool that is designed specifically for freelancers and independent workers and makes them feel smart, not stupid, about their finances.

This is great news too for our other users in both the UK and elsewhere in the world. We'll have more resources to improve FreeAgent in ways that will benefit everyone. And building from our recently announced direct feeds with Barclays, we'll continue to press forward with even more revolutionary capabilities for the UK version of FreeAgent.

Onwards and upwards!