ClearTax expands its operations into the Middle East, raises $75m

ClearTax (now rebranded as Clear), a fintech SaaS company has announced its entry into the Middle East through a $75m Series C fund raise for the expansion into international markets. The fundraise led by Kora Capital, alongside global fintech Stripe, Alua Capital, Think Investments and existing investors will also be utilised to boost Clear’s diversification into other business lines such as B2B credit and payments.

ClearTax is a tax and compliance technology solution provider that also offers software solutions for invoices, payments, and credit for businesses.

In the Middle East, the company will start with the launch of electronic invoicing products for medium to large enterprises and expand to VAT compliance, accounts payables and receivables automation and B2B payments in the next few months.

The company has already launched its solution to generate electronic invoices as per Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) guidelines in Saudi Arabia. The tech platform is available in English and Arabic with cloud servers hosted inside the kingdom.

Speaking on the development, Archit Gupta, founder and CEO of ClearTax said, “Government authorities across the Middle East are undertaking massive digital reforms to transform the economy in the next decade. This wave of digitisation is resulting in rapid investments in this region from global tech giants. We think that ClearTax is also well-positioned to enter the Middle East market considering the increasing push on digital payments, digitisation of business processes, government mandates on digitisation of tax and compliance, and overall increasing adoption of cloud-based technology solutions.”

ClearTax’s SaaS platform has witnessed a 5x growth in the last 18 months adding 3,000+ large enterprise customers. The ClearTax platform now processes over 10 per cent of India’s business invoices with a GMV of $400bn. The company is developing solutions that can be easily integrated with any ERP/ POS system, provides AI-powered smart validations and reconciliations to ensure maximum efficiency and accuracy in e-invoicing and subsequent VAT filing. It is looking to enter the UAE by mid-2022 with e-invoicing and VAT offerings within the country.

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