AvidXchange acquires Massachusetts tech firm

Charlotte-based AvidXchange is growing again.

The local payment automation company said Monday that it has acquired a Massachusetts firm called Ariett, a private company that specializes in technology that lets businesses automate various processes and manage employee expenses.

In a call with the Observer Monday, AvidXchange CEO Michael Praeger said the deal will help broaden AvidXchange’s bill-automating capabilities and reach a wider customer base. AvidXchange customers include companies that are considered “middle-market,” meaning they have annual revenue of $5 million to $1 billion, Praeger said. There are roughly 350,000 such companies in the U.S.

“What’s really exciting, the reason I can’t sleep at night, is over 50 percent of those companies have yet to utilize a solution to automate this business process. They’re still processing paper invoices and paper checks,” Praeger said.

AvidXchange said all of Ariett’s roughly 100 employees will remain at the company’s headquarters just outside Boston. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

AvidXchange called the deal complementary: AvidXchange will gain access to Ariett’s more than 2,900 customers and will offer onboarding services to make the transition to electronic payments easier for them, the company said. In turn, Ariett will offer AvidXchange customers extended functionality the company didn’t have already, including employee travel and reimbursement automation.

Valued at $1.4 billion as of July, AvidXchange is one of Charlotte’s so-called unicorns, a term for a privately held company with a valuation of at least $1 billion, according to TechCrunch. The other is Red Ventures, the Indian Land marketing and technology firm valued at $1.25 billion.

A common next step for unicorns is an initial public offering. Praeger said the company does not have immediate plans to go public – but that could change over time.

“We know that as part of our evolution looking to be a public company is something we’re constantly evaluating as part of our options for growth,” Praeger said. He added that deals like the Ariett acquisition help AvidXchange to more seriously consider an eventual IPO.

Praeger co-founded AvidXchange in 2000. The company recently surpassed 1,000 employees, a spokeswoman said.

The firm also recently finished moving into its new headquarters at the AvidXchange Music Factory, the entertainment complex it bought the naming rights to last year. The sleek six-story building includes amenities such as Xboxes, shuffleboard, gyms and basketball courts.

In June, the firm announced a $300 million funding round raised from several big names, including the Canadian investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Mastercard, Temasek and Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal. With the funding, AvidXchange said it will create 200 jobs this year and more than 600 new jobs in Mecklenburg County by the end of 2018.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 10:28 AM with the headline "AvidXchange acquires Massachusetts tech firm."