Accounting software giant Sage snaps up Irish company

Irish technology company Ocrex, which trades as AutoEntry, has been snapped up by accounting software giant Sage for an undisclosed sum.

Founded by Brendan Woods in 2011, the company uses artificial intelligence and optical character recognition to automate data entry on items such as invoices and receipts on behalf of accountants and bookkeepers.

The company, whose customers include Deloitte and BDO, raised €3 million in 2017 in a funding round led by Dublin's Act Venture Capital. Other backers include former Feed Henry chief executive Cathal McGloin, who served as its chairman.

The company employs about 200 people, 26 of whom are in Dublin. Sage has said it intends to continue to grow headcount at the business .

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AutoEntry is Ocrex’s flagship product, although it also has a second solution called AutoRec.

“We are excited about the impact this acquisition will have on our ability to serve our customers at a much more rapid pace. We believe the investment Sage will make in AutoEntry will help us to continue to drive innovation, expand internationally, and develop our products using Sage’s expertise,” said Mr Woods, the company’s chief executive.

Sage, which has partnered with Ocrex over the last few years, said the deal would help it move closer to its goal of becoming predominantly a software-as-a-services (SaaS) company.

“Part of Sage being a great SaaS company means building and acquiring great technology to help accountants and businesses focus on what matters most. AutoEntry provides intelligent technology and an open ecosystem that allow us to automate the inflow of business-critical data, whatever the source, and reinforces our commitment to accountants and their evolving role in helping their clients thrive,” said Lee Perkins, Sage’s chief product officer.

London-listed Sage is the second largest software company in the UK. The company, which reported revenues of £1.86 billion last year, has over three million customers in 23 countries. It employs about 13,000 people, including about 600 in the Republic.