Wave
Headquarters
Toronto, CanadaFounded
2009CEO / Founder
Kirk SimpsonEmployees
201-500Funding
Acquired — $68MProducts
1 product listedAvg. AI Score
6.7/10Website
www.waveapps.com
Profile updated
About Wave
Wave Financial is a Toronto-based financial software company founded in 2009 by Kirk Simpson and James Lochrie. It provides free invoicing and accounting tools to small businesses, with paid payments, payroll, and bookkeeping services as the revenue model.
Wave serves hundreds of thousands of small businesses, freelancers, and consultants primarily in North America. The product is known for its simple interface aimed at non-accountants.
H&R Block acquired Wave in 2019 for approximately $405 million. Wave continues to operate as an independent subsidiary from Toronto, with Kirk Simpson staying on as founder. It had raised about $68 million in venture funding prior to acquisition.
Specialties
Financials
Dated, source-cited figures. Estimates are marked.
Products by Wave
All products by Wave reviewed by our AI panel of experts.
How Our Review Panel Scores Wave
Six independent reviewer personalities assessed Wave's product on their own terms. They disagreed by 1.0 points — The Domain Practitioner was the hardest to convince, The Finance Lead the most positive.
Averaged across 1 reviewed product in our catalog. Scores are out of 10.
Competitive Landscape
Who Wave competes with, and how they differ.
FreshBooks skews paid-first with time tracking built for freelancers and agencies; Wave differentiates with a free core accounting and invoicing product monetized through payments and payroll add-ons.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewed
QuickBooks (Intuit) is the dominant incumbent with far deeper feature scope (payroll, tax filing, app ecosystem) and per-seat pricing; Wave undercuts on price with a free tier aimed at solopreneurs QuickBooks treats as entry-level.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewed
Xero grows primarily through the accountant/bookkeeper partner channel, whereas Wave sells direct-to-small-business with a freemium motion.
Zoho Books is bundled inside Zoho's much larger business suite (CRM, HR, etc.), competing on cross-product bundling rather than Wave's single-purpose free accounting focus.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedCompany Timeline
Key milestones in Wave's history, with sources.
- Acquisition
Acquired by H&R Block for US$405M
H&R Block agreed to acquire Wave for US$405 million (C$537 million), aiming to accelerate its small-business strategy; Wave continued operating from Toronto under CEO Kirk Simpson.
betakit.com - Funding
Series D -- $24M led by NAB Ventures
Wave completed a $24 million Series D strategic round led by National Australia Bank's NAB Ventures, with Royal Bank of Canada, Portag3 and existing investors participating, bringing total funding to just under $80 million.
wildlaw.ca - Funding
Raised $14.6M, total funding to $62.3M
Wave raised $14.6 million led by BDC's IT Venture Fund with HarbourVest, CRV and Social Capital participating, bringing total funding to $62.3 million and pointing toward $20M ARR by end of 2016.
betakit.com - Funding
Series B -- $12M led by Social+Capital Partnership
Wave raised $12 million in Series B funding led by The Social+Capital Partnership, with existing investors Charles River Ventures and OMERS Ventures participating.
techcrunch.com - Founded
Founded in Toronto by Kirk Simpson and James Lochrie
Kirk Simpson and James Lochrie founded Wave (originally Wave Accounting Inc.) in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood to build free accounting software for small businesses.
betakit.com
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