Fondo
13 known investors
Fondo is an accounting platform that combines software with a CPA-led team to handle bookkeeping, corporate tax filings, and R&D tax credits for startups. It manages financial reporting, compliance deadlines, and tax credit claims, including support for international and multi-entity company structures.
Also known as BloomJoy, Inc. Β· Fondo (YC W18)
Founders & leadership
Investors Β· 13
Also in the syndicate Β· 8
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements- Undisclosed amountSeedNov 2024
Money Forward (lead)
Source β - Undisclosed amountSeedOct 2024
Money Forward (lead)
Source β
Source: company announcements and press reports β follow each round's link for the claim.
Valuation Β· disclosed
Disclosed eventsSource: SEC prospectus filings, and round valuations the company or its investors disclosed β follow each entry's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Fondo (legal entity BloomJoy, Inc.) is a San Francisco-based accounting platform for startups and scaling technology companies. It combines software with a CPA-led, in-house accounting team that takes ownership of bookkeeping, corporate tax filing and R&D tax credit claims. Bookkeeping can be closed monthly, quarterly or annually and includes transaction categorization, account reconciliation, and a reporting package covering runway, profit and loss, balance sheet and statement of cash flows, delivered alongside a finance dashboard. A catch-up bookkeeping add-on brings companies that are behind up to date.
Corporate tax work is packaged as TaxPass, which covers federal (Form 1120), state and Delaware franchise tax filings plus foreign shareholder filings, with add-ons for additional state filings and international forms (5472, 5471, 114). The tax credit service identifies, calculates and files R&D credits (Form 6765), which the company describes as worth up to $500,000 per year to an eligible startup. Fondo also offers a free TaxPlan product that summarizes a startup's corporate tax obligations, nexus, international activity and estimated R&D credit, and it publishes founder-facing content including the annual Founders' Frontier: State of Early-Stage Startups survey report, a podcast, founder events and a partner-discount ecosystem.
The company states it is built specifically for Delaware C-Corps from pre-seed to Series B, serving both US and international founders, including multi-entity and foreign-subsidiary structures.
Founding story
Fondo was founded in 2020 to help startups file taxes, close their books and obtain cash back from the IRS, motivated by the founder's view that running out of money is among the top reasons startups fail. The company describes itself as having started with a founder solving their own accounting problems. Founder and CEO David J. Phillips began his career as an accountant at Deloitte, then learned to code; he previously co-founded Hackbright Academy, which trained more than 1,000 software engineers and was acquired by Capella Education (NASDAQ: CPLA) in 2016 for $18M, and he is an angel investor in Rippling, Flexport, Liquid Death and others.
Business model
Subscription software plus service: recurring bookkeeping plans and annual corporate tax packages, with priced add-ons for extra state filings, international forms, R&D credit studies and catch-up bookkeeping. Work is performed by Fondo's in-house accountants rather than outsourced providers, with client communication through dedicated accountants and Slack channels.
Published list pricing: TaxPass corporate tax filing from $1,950/year (offered at $1,450 in a promotion); tax add-ons from $500 each; bookkeeping from $499/month (promoted at $399), $1,198/quarter, or $950/year; catch-up bookkeeping from $950. Plans can be paused or cancelled at any time without long contracts.
Traction
Fondo reports having served over 1,200 high-growth startups as of the November 2024 seed announcement, including one-third of the then-most-recent Y Combinator cohort, with $6M+ ARR, profitability, and average annual growth above 250% since launch; site footers cite 2,000+ startups and Y Combinator's profile also cites 2,000+ startups with a team size of 80. Earlier, at the February 2023 pre-seed announcement, the company reported more than 500 startup customers, $3M ARR after nearly tripling revenue in 2022, a team that doubled to 54 people, and $3.5M in IRS cash back secured for customers in Q4 2022. Company materials state startups have saved $100M+ through Fondo and that the average customer receives about $21,000 back per year. Its community program cites 10,000+ founders across 10+ cities and $5B+ in capital raised by participants.
Latest developments
The most recent funding disclosure is the $7M oversubscribed seed round led by Money Forward, announced November 2024, comprising $4.6M in equity and a $2.4M Capchase debt facility at a stated $66M valuation. At that time the executive team comprised David J. Phillips (CEO and Founder), Ali Ghanimati, CPA (Chief Accounting Officer), Brian Simmons (Chief Product Officer) and Diane E. McCormack (Chief Operating Officer), with hiring planned across product, engineering, accounting and go-to-market. Y Combinator lists open Accounting Manager and Tax Manager roles and a team size of 80.
βΈFull profile β market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Positions itself as a startup-specific, all-inclusive alternative to legacy CPA firms and to other startup accounting providers such as Pilot, differentiating on flat pricing, in-house accountants, Slack access, self-serve onboarding and international support. Y Combinator lists the company under fintech, SaaS, B2B and AI categories.
Combination of software automation with in-house (not outsourced) accountants reachable via Slack; bundled bookkeeping, corporate tax and R&D credit work under all-inclusive pricing; flexible monthly/quarterly/annual bookkeeping cadence; no long contracts and cancel-anytime terms; explicit support for international founders and foreign subsidiaries.
Technology
A web platform with a finance dashboard, AI assistant and automated tax-deadline and bookkeeping workflows, integrated with banks, payroll and accounting tools (including QuickBooks Online). The company describes pairing automation and AI with human accountants who handle review, judgment and edge cases.
Go-to-market
Self-serve signup and demo booking on the website, with onboarding that connects bank, payroll and accounting tools in roughly 15 minutes. Distribution leans on the Y Combinator ecosystem (YC deals; one-third of a recent YC cohort as customers), Product Hunt launches, G2 reviews, founder testimonials, a partner ecosystem with tools such as Rho, Rippling, Vanta, Mercury, Stripe Atlas, Brex, Gusto and Deel, and content/community programs including guides, a podcast, dinners and the Founders' Frontier report.
Delaware C-Corp startups from pre-seed through Series B and scaling tech companies, both venture-backed and bootstrapped, including US and international founders and companies with foreign subsidiaries or foreign shareholders.
Geography
Headquartered in San Francisco, with remote roles listed in the US and Canada. Serves US-incorporated Delaware C-Corps, including international founders and companies with foreign subsidiaries; the founder community spans 10+ cities.
History
Founded in 2020 and part of Y Combinator's Winter 2018 batch. In 2022 the company grew its team to 54 people, roughly tripled revenue to $3M ARR, and ranked first in Product Hunt's fintech category for August 2022. It announced a $3M pre-seed round in February 2023 and published the inaugural Founders' Frontier: State of Early-Stage Startups report the same year. In November 2024 it announced an oversubscribed $7M seed round led by Money Forward at a stated $66M valuation, reporting $6M+ ARR and profitability, with proceeds earmarked for product, engineering, accounting and go-to-market hiring. Product launches on Y Combinator include TaxPlan, a $1 Delaware Franchise Tax filing offer, and an automated IRS cash-back product.
Risks & controversies
Revenue and customer figures, growth rates, profitability and cumulative customer savings are self-reported by the company rather than independently verified, and customer-count claims differ across materials (1,200+ in the 2024 seed announcement versus 2,000+ on current site pages). The service is scoped to Delaware C-Corps, and part of the value proposition depends on R&D tax credit rules and related provisions such as Section 174, which are subject to regulatory change. Some website sections still contain unfinished placeholder text.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 5
launches, deals, and filingsThe round consisted of $4.6M in equity and a $2.4M Capchase debt facility at a stated $66M valuation, with participation from Y Combinator, Motley Fool Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, scout funds and angels; proceeds allocated to product development, platform work and hiring.
$7M source β
Free product that generates a corporate tax summary, tax nexus summary, international activity summary and year-end checklist, including Section 174 adjustment and estimated R&D tax credit, without requiring accounting setup.
Fondo announced a $3M pre-seed round comprising $1.2M in equity from Y Combinator, Liquid2 Ventures, Transmedia Capital and GMO Venture Partners, plus $1.8M in non-dilutive financing from Capchase, to fund product development and hiring.
$3M source β
Fondo released its first annual survey-based report on early-stage startups covering founder salaries, runway, cash burn and sentiment, reporting that 61% of surveyed founders felt optimistic about their startups' future.
Fondo was ranked number one in the fintech category on Product Hunt for the month of August 2022.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
βΈResearch sources Β· 8
primary sources listed
- Fondotryfondo.com Β· web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Fondo do?
- Fondo is an accounting platform pairing software with in-house accountants for startup bookkeeping, corporate taxes and R&D credits.
- Who founded Fondo?
- Fondo was founded by David J. Phillips.
- Who are Fondo's investors?
- Fondo's investors include Motley Fool Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, Pi Campus, Money Forward, Y Combinator.