SimpleClosure – a company that offers easier ways to shut down a business – announced it had raised $4 million in seed funding just months after the company’s pre-seed round. This funding round was led by Infinity Ventures, with strong participation from Anthemis Group, Foxe Capital, and existing investors. And a variety of new angel investors joined the round, including executives from leading software companies like Deel and Intuit, and partners at top venture firms.
The fast-follow funding round underscores the increasing need for founder-friendly business shutdown services as the venture capital environment continues to be challenging.
Automating the shutdown process for other founders came as a lightbulb moment when Yona – during a previous founder journey – was tasked by a board member to create a shutdown analysis. After being sent from lawyer to lawyer and accountant to accountant, Yona turned to the Internet, where he found it nearly impossible to get any reliable information on properly shutting down a company — even though 9 out of 10 startups that raise funding will shut down.
The company – which has seen an influx of customers since its public launch in September 2023 – has now surpassed seven figures in annualized revenue. Since launching, SimpleClosure has increased its revenue more than 14x and customer base by more than 6x. Current referral partners include law and accounting firms, accelerators, and startup service providers like Mercury. The latest funding round will be used to increase headcount across product & engineering and go-to-market functions.
The majority of SimpleClosure customers – which range from bootstrapped businesses to well-funded startups – have moved on to building a new company. Utilizing fintech, AI and legal technology innovation to execute on company-specific dissolution and closure plans, SimpleClosure resolves any remaining obligations with customers, state agencies, and team members on behalf of the dissolving business.
KEY QUOTES:
“It’s exciting to see how fully SimpleClosure’s mission — to automate and streamline the painful and bureaucratic dissolution and wind-down process — has resonated across stakeholders, from lawyers and accountants to founder and investors. With the rate of business closures accelerating, the latest funds came preempted, receiving multiple term sheets in a week. We’re excited to create products and services that help founders quickly move on to their next project, without the emotional, financial, and legal headaches that far too often accompany the dissolution process.”
- Dori Yona, SimpleClosure’s founder and CEO
“When it comes to dissolution services, working with SimpleClosure has been a game-changer. They caught things our original dissolution lawyers and CPAs didn’t catch and accelerated the entire process.”
- Brandon Woo, co-founder and CTO of Peak, a telehealth company that turned to SimpleClosure after becoming dissatisfied with the current market offerings and service providers
“Every so often we see an entrepreneur and startup come around that really meets the moment. SimpleClosure is filling a huge gap in services for founders, enabling them to quickly shut down their current endeavor and start the next phase of their entrepreneurial journey. Investing in them was an easy decision.”
- Infinity Ventures Managing Partner Jeremy Jonker
