Photo Credit: Keeper
San Francisco-based Keeper is a company that recently graduated from the Y Combinator (YC) startup accelerator program. Keeper was founded by Paul Koullick and David Kang.
What does Keeper do? It helps independent contractors that work as Uber drivers, Bird scooter chargers, social media influencers, etc. and others working in the gig economy ecosystem help manage their taxes.
Since Uber and Lyft have their drivers work as independent contractors and their taxes are not withheld, it makes things harder for independent contractors come tax day and they have to pay large sums of money to the IRS.
To further grow the platform and team, Keeper has raised $1.65 million in funding at a $10 million valuation led by Jake Jolis of Matrix Partners according to TechCrunch.
Koullick and Kang joined YC this past winter with the idea but did not have much of a product to show. But by the time they graduated, Koullick and Kang they had an impressive product with 200 paying customers. Using this funding round, Keeper is aiming to acquire 10,000 customers over the next 18 months.
“There are some companies that are trying to go very broad and trying to cover the whole spectrum of benefits; we’re just trying to go really deep on taxes,” said Kang via TechCrunch. “This is a pain point. This is where people are definitely leaving the most money on the table.”
Keeper estimates that the average gig worker in the U.S. is overpaying by more than 20% or about $1,550 per person making $25,000 per year. This may be because independent contractors are not claiming tax write-offs like phone bills, car maintenance fees, and Spotify subscriptions that drivers use.
“If you’re a dog walker, there are so many things you need to be writing off, like your poop bags, your extra leashes, your parking,” added Koullick via TechCrunch. “This population needs the guidance of an accountant, but they can’t afford one and we’re trying to create this third option.”
Keeper monitors the expenses of its users in order to identify potential tax deductions. And it estimates that $173 can be saved per month on average. To monitor the transactions, Keeper utilizes Plaid and sends a text message asking if there are any tax write-offs for noting down. Then it gets better over time and sends less text messages.
Prior to launching Keeper, Koullick worked at Square and Stride where he built Stride Tax — which is a mileage and expense tracking app. And Kang used to work at a trading firm in Chicago with a focus on quantitative modeling. Before launching Keeper, the two brainstormed a number of ideas for a while. Ultimately, they decided to focus on an area that “mattered to real people” in the financial space.
Keeper does not offer tax filing services yet. But this year, Keeper is planning to start offering a quarterly tax filing service. And next year, Keeper is planning to provide full-year tax filing services.
