Chrome River Technologies

Chrome River Technologies, Inc. was a Los Angeles-based provider of cloud-based expense reporting and supplier invoice automation software. Its SaaS platform combined a configurable business rules engine with a user interface designed to work consistently across smartphone, tablet and laptop, and was delivered without hardware, installed software or long-term commitments. Functionality included real-time expense management, invoice automation, mobile receipt capture via cellphone photo and automated expense categorization, and integrations with leading ERP systems including SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Microsoft Dynamics, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and QuickBooks.

The company targeted large organizations with sophisticated expense management policies, complex approval workflows, compliance requirements and international operations. Buyers and users included CFOs, CIOs, accounts payable teams, travel managers and business travelers. At the time of its 2019 merger with Certify, Chrome River served more than 1,000 organizations worldwide and stated that more than 2 million business travelers used its products; it was rated a Leader in expense management by IDC.

In March 2019 Chrome River and Certify announced a merger valued at over $1 billion, with K1 Investment Management taking a majority stake and existing shareholders, including the founders and Bain Capital Ventures, retaining a minority interest. The combined group, which also included the Nexonia, Tallie, Abacus and Captio brands, had more than 11,000 customers across over 100 countries with solutions in more than 60 languages. In July 2019 the business acquired Emburse, a provider of virtual and physical payment cards, and in January 2020 the combined entity was rebranded as Emburse.

Founding story

Chrome River Technologies was founded in 2007 in Los Angeles, California by Mike Vargo, Alan Rich and Dave Terry. Alan Rich, who served as co-founder and CEO, had previously co-founded legal technology company Elite Information Group, experience that informed the company's focus on the financial processes of large organizations. The founders identified that many corporations still relied on manual expense reporting systems that created inefficiency and compliance issues, and built a cloud-based SaaS platform to automate expense reporting and invoice management, initially targeting law firms whose complex expense requirements helped shape the product design.

Business model

Chrome River sold configurable expense reporting and supplier invoice automation software on a software-as-a-service basis, requiring no hardware, no installed software and no long-term commitment from customers, and paired the product with in-house implementation and support teams.

Subscription-based SaaS delivery of expense reporting and invoice automation solutions; the company projected $25 million in revenue for 2015, a 50 percent increase over the prior year.

Traction

The company grew 40 percent in 2014 and projected $25 million in 2015 revenue, up 50 percent year over year, with annual customer attrition of about 0.5 percent. It had approximately 380 customers in 2015 and more than 1,000 organizations worldwide by 2019, with more than 2 million business travelers using its products. Recognition included Inc. 500|5000 listings for three consecutive years, Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for two consecutive years, and Comparably rankings in November 2017 as a top 50 U.S. small-to-midsize employer, a top-30 company for female employees among companies under 500 employees, and CEO Alan Rich as the No. 18 CEO in the country.

Latest developments

Chrome River merged with Certify Inc. in a transaction valued at over $1 billion announced in March 2019, with K1 Investment Management holding a majority stake and existing shareholders including the founders and Bain Capital Ventures retaining a minority interest. Initially the two companies operated independently with separate management teams. In July 2019 the business acquired Emburse, a provider of virtual and physical payment cards, and in January 2020 the combined entity was rebranded as Emburse.