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Accounting

Fintech Startup Tofu Launches New Invoicing, Tax, and Payment Management Platform

The platform focuses on streamlining billing processes by allowing users to swiftly send invoices and get paid.

Tofu (“GetPaid Inc.”), a fintech startup, has launched in the United States, offering the over 9.8 million self-employed individuals a business management platform to simplify their invoicing, expense management and tax calculation processes. The app has already passed 1 million downloads.

During the first year of operations in test mode, Tofu reached $4.5 million in annual recurring revenue. The platform focuses on streamlining billing processes by allowing users to swiftly send invoices and get paid. On average it takes around 12 minutes for self-employed workers to create and send an invoice, while the Tofu app allows them to do it in less than 6 minutes, according to the company. 

The development comes in response to studies that found that only around half of a freelancer’s time, 53%, is spent on billable work for a client, while a staggering 22% is spent on administrative tasks such as invoicing and paperwork, and to the fact that most of the time, self-employed individuals lack the resources to hire business administrative staff. 

Moreover, Tofu focuses on creating the best user experience to accept payments on the go by supporting every popular payment method like P2P transfers, card payments and cash. Such an inclusive approach not only fosters enhanced product adoption but also offers users a comprehensive, all-encompassing solution to meet their diverse needs.

“Self-employed individuals wait three times longer to get paid than full-time staff, with 28% of business decision makers citing cash flow as the main reason for slow payments. Tofu’s ultimate objective is delivering a best-in-class solution that empowers self-employed individuals to conveniently accept payments while on the move. More integrations are coming at the end of the year, including support for Tap to Pay on iPhone,” notes Alexey Bogdanov, founder and CEO at Tofu. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of self-employed people in the US is 9.84 million, with 54% of them working multiple jobs. Roughly three-quarters of self-employed workers (76%) work full time, and 24% work part time. Self-employed individuals are nearly 50% more likely than full-time employees to put in 10 or more work hours per working day.