Collective, a financial platform built for self-employed business owners, has secured $100m in new funding to develop what it describes as a financial operating system for the coming wave of one-person businesses.

The company intends to put the capital towards three main areas. It plans to broaden its offering so that it can support a wider range of businesses, including firms that employ staff. It also aims to apply AI more extensively to automate tasks across accounting, tax, payroll and customer support. In addition, Collective will introduce further services as it works towards building a comprehensive financial platform.

Collective argues that AI is changing the shape of entrepreneurship, allowing individuals to build operations that previously needed a full company behind them. According to the firm, the US is now home to 32 million solo businesses, which together produce close to $2tn in revenue each year. The number of these businesses rose by more than 5% in 2024, a growth rate over double that of the year before.

The company’s goal is to give independent workers the kind of financial support usually reserved for large corporations, at a much lower cost and with far less complexity. Its platform combines AI-powered bookkeeping, tax services, payroll and round-the-clock CFO support. Rather than simply supplying tools, Collective says its system is designed to carry out financial tasks on the user’s behalf, freeing business owners to concentrate on their core work.

Since its launch, Collective estimates that it has helped its members save around $350m in taxes, along with an average of 80 hours each year.

Source link