By Allan Maurer
CHARLOTTE, NC – In June 2002, AvidXchange founders Mike Praeger and David Miller made a sales call on Richard Ross of Branch Properties in Atlanta to discuss their real estate software product.
“Ross told us he had no interest in our purchasing product,” they say. But, he said he loved their invoice payment module and would buy that if they would sell it separtely.
“We studied that idea carefully during the long drive back to Charlotte, or at least as carefully as you can study any idea riding at 90 mph with take-out in one hand and a cell phone in the other,” they write in their brief company history.
That led to their AvidInvoice product for the real estate sector and the then rapid growth of Charlotte-based AvidXchange.
The company is one of 60 innovative Southeast firms presenting at the upcoming Southeast Venture Conference (SEVC) in Tysons Corner, VA, Wednesday and Thursday Feb. 24-25 (see:www.seventure.org for more information).
Expanded client base
The 80 employee company has since expanded its client base to include retail, residential real estate, banking, insurance, and education, says Amy Richardson, director of marketing.
The company’s product automates a client’s payroll process with goal of helping them move away from paper, Richardson tells us. She says about 50 percent of its customer base has managed that so far.
Invoices are put into the AvidInvoice system and according to the client’s business rules, go through an approval sequence. After final approval, the invoices go to accounting and are
2009 was best year ever
Last year the company rolled out its newest product, AvidBill, which lets a client’s vendors go to a Web portal and submit bills through pdf files.
Richardson tells us “Last year was our best ever.” One client saved $800,000 a month every month the first year using our streamlined process,” she says.
She says among other factors in the firm’s success, it’s implementation process has become faster-requiring as little as a wee-and often can now be done remotely.
