A company starting from scratch today is likely going to use a stack of financial software with state-of-the-art fintech tools. These could be things like Stripe for payments, Brex for business credit cards, and Gusto for payroll and benefits, which when combined can provide a unique picture of a company’s financial health.

Puzzle, an early-stage startup, is building an accounting package to take advantage of the data streaming of these tools. Today, the company makes its public debut and announces a $15 million Series A.

Sasha Orloff, CEO and co-founder of Puzzle, calls his company “the first smart accounting software,” which combines a financial data streaming platform with a general ledger.

“By combining these two things, we can create a whole new set of opportunities for an organization in terms of fundraising, taxation, and understanding the full picture of financial health. [at a startup]Orloff told australiabusinessblog.com.

The streaming piece is possible because of the ability to connect in real time to things like payment and payroll data and update the general ledger with the latest information. Instead of collecting this data on a monthly basis, the company always has the most up-to-date information at hand, and that can be a real advantage, Orloff said.

“We natively tap into that modern stack to create this single place where a company can see all of their data and how these things fit together and then get a picture of your financial health. So it’s like an addition to all the modern innovation that’s happened,” he said.

Ultimately, Orloff wants to be more than an accounting software service for startups, but he calls that a starting point for the company. He says the ultimate goal is to replace traditional ERP (enterprise resource planning) software with this “API-enabled data platform connected to all the best solutions on the market, not just what happens to be in the market today.” [vendor’s] API.”

The company launched in late 2019 and has worked with over 500 startups over the years to build and refine the new software. Today, the company is coming out of beta with a service generally available to any interested customer.

Puzzle currently has 30 employees and plans to hire with the money. His staff includes several people with the unique combination of accounting and technical knowledge, but he says he will need people across the board as he scales the startup.

The $15 million investment was led by General Catalyst with participation from more than 100 industry angels, including CFOs at venture-backed startups. Today’s round closed late last year, and the company has now raised $20 million, including a $5 million seed, also led by GC, according to Orloff.