Expensify, the startup that took second place at TC50’s demo pit last year, has launched the public beta version of its business expense tracking and reimbursement system. Expensify has created a bigger and better version of its system, which we reviewed last fall.
Expensify still offers the “electronic payment card,” which is essentially an Expensify-branded MasterCard that is linked to your original credit card (which doesn’t have to be a MasterCard). When you use this card, business expenses are immediately charged to the linked credit card’s account. Not only does this allow you to still rack up any frequent flier miles associated with your primary credit card but it takes only a week to get the Expensify card and you don’t have to undergo a credit check. You can get numerous cards (and are able to manually write what each card is for in a blank white spot on the top of the card), which is ideal for consultants who are billing reimbursements to different clients.
Now Expensify also gives you the option of using an existing corporate or personal credit card and the service will automatically import your purchases directly from the banking website. Expensify currently can import over 90 percent of U.S. credit cards. Expensify also allows you to apply for an American Express Blue Card, from which the startup receives a referral fee when a user enrolls.
Here’s a quick demo:
Once the billing information is set up, Expensify will automatically generate an expense report with “e-receipts” for all purchases under $75 and gives you the ability to import any receipts over that amount via an email, jpeg, or pdf file (e-receipts are all formatted to IRS regulations). Expensify will also have an iPhone app that will take a picture of the receipts and upload it to the site directly. The drawback to the e-receipt is that it doesn’t give a line by lie itemization of a receipt, which shows for example, how much each entree cost and whether there was alcohol on the bill. Many employers have certain restrictions on expensing alcohol with meals or how much money can be spent per person in a group.
Once all receipts are uploaded, Expensify will create a one-click expense report organized by category of expense (i.e. food, travel), attaches all the receipts and even includes charts detailing the breakdown of expenditures. You can also label expenses in the report and add comments. Once you sign off on the report, Expensify will send a PDF of the report via email directly to the reimbursement contact, along with a link back to the report where the admin can approve or reject the report. Once approved, funds are deposited directly back into the credit card used or a checking account. You also have the option of sending the report directly to the whoever is reimbursing you directly and going through their channels for reimbursement.
Expensify is now completely free-the startup eliminated the 3 percent transaction fee it was originally proposing to charge users during private beta. With its new service options and its free platform, Expensify will undoubtedly challenge similar expense report sites out there like Shoeboxed and Concur, who both charge a monthly fees for users.
This service is ideal for freelancers, contractors or small businesses looking to integrate or use an expense system at little to no cost. Its doubtful that big businesses, who often have established in-house expense report systems with strict rules on how to submit expenses, will allow Expensify reports to pass by freely. But CEO and co-founder David Barrett says that Expensify is specifically targeted towards small businesses and the self-employed and delivers options that will suit both groups expense needs
Here’s a look at a sample expense report:
Wonderful, especially for Small and Medium sized companies.
We will publish trough http://www.spirofrog.de as well!
Good Luck
Yeah, they did a really good presentation at a local bay area meetup as well. I scribbled some notes from there .
http://socialap...from-expensify/
Companies like this, mint.com etc. are proving that you can work on simple ideas and problems and yet provide very robust and innovative solutions.
Actually a mint+expensify merger is one that could actually make a lot of sense.
Thank you Expensify for making my life suck less. I will now have more time for Gears of War and more money to take out the ladies.
Congrats to David and team! It is a good idea and a great execution! Looking forward to trying it out.
More credit cards in my wallet. Ouch. The netflix like solution from shoeboxed.com seems easier.
looks good. also saw a company called home-account trying to address the mortgage problem…i expect a few more great web 2.0 ideas thay transform money management next year or so
@timesaver: Shoeboxed is a pretty slick way to organize your paper receipts. But the Expensify way is to just do away with paper receipts entirely:
We give Guaranteed eReceipts for purchases under $75 so there is literally no paper to mess with, nothing to stuff in your pocket, throw into the shoebox, stuff into an envelope, etc. There’s nothing else out there on the market — this is truly the first time it’s ever been offered, so the notion of a truly paperless expense report takes some getting used to.
As for the extra card, that’s completely optional for people who want it — if you’re happy with your existing card, we’re happy to just import it directly. We can import over 94% of all US credit cards and offer eReceipts from them just fine.
At the end of the day, you’ll find no more sympathetic ear than Expensify regarding the desire to avoid extra stuff in your pockets. Keep using your same card and cameraphone, and we’ll take care of the rest.
- David (founder Expensify)
Twitter: @expensify
We’re designed to make better use of the tools you already have — your existing credit card and your existing cameraphone
How do they make money? I may have missed this, but I’m struggling with the number of services launching that seem unwilling to put a price on their product. If the goal is to gain share in a segment then sell to a larger player in the category, won’t the larger player still want to see evidence of value creation (as in revenue)?
@JFS – Great question! Right now we’re offering this baseline of free services with plans to offer premium for-pay services atop this, generally targeted to user subsets that have more advanced needs. One advantage of building a financial service is — unlike the typical free Web 2.0 website — we already deal with real money. So the barrier to adding a premium surcharge onto an existing transaction is much lower than creating a new transaction from scratch. Regardless, I appreciate your concern and hope I can assure you that we take revenue very seriously. Keep an eye out for future announcements along these lines!
Nice article! Check out my site too at http://macmaniapodcast.com
This sounds awesome. I am wondering if Expensify can import more than 3 months worth of transactions from your credit card however.
@john – Hi John, we’ve picked 3 months as the default as we can get that pretty reliably from most all banks. However, different banks have different data availability levels, and not all can do more than that. Please write me at dbarrett@expensify.com so I can better understand what you’re trying to do and we’d love to help you out.
This is really cool, especially for small businesses. I can’t see medium or larger companies with 200+ employees using a system like that, especially if they are publicly traded, as there are many controls and Sarbanes Oxley regulations that need to be considered.
@djrobsd – Agreed, larger companies (especially those that are publicly traded) have much more strict internal controls than we currently provide. Our plan is to start out small and focus on the common functionality shared by everyone, and gradually release premium features targeted to these larger enterprises.
I’m not sure what you guys are raving about. TooLow pays you for your receipts.
You could market this to families. Imagine giving your teen an expense card and being able to review all those expenses.
And as previously mentioned, expensify + mint would be dreamy.
@natalie — Haha, ya TooLow is interesting but about as far from being an expense report solution as can be.
@jasimo — Great idea. I actually agree with you: though not typically seen in this way, families actually have all the same expense tracking and reimbursement problems of small businesses. I’m with you, I think there’s definitely an opportunity for a similar product targeted to the family sector. And as for Mint, I agree — we’re huge fans of Mint here, we’ll be sure to talk with them!
This is pretty damn cool.. Will you support the prepaid MasterCard loading it from an Amex card? I love my Starwood Amex..
I think this does have an appeal to small business owners. These cost cutting measures will be increasingly important in this market environment. It’s a sound idea to check out new services that handle your money at this* digital security site.
Hello!
There’s a ton going on at http://Expensify.com : new API, closed a $1M round of seed funding, Salesforce application, QuickBooks integration, new iPhone app, and lots more. We’ve been working hard and people are starting to notice! Expensify’s Salesforce integration was recently picked the “audience choice” expense reporting application, AlwaysOn picked us as a “Global 250 innovator and disrupter”, we just demoed our new API at the SF New Tech meetup and we’ve got much more in store. Please check out our latest coverage below:
http://ventureb...30;..reporting/
http://www.exam...30;..un-factory
Thanks for your help. It’s hard work getting the word out, and I really appreciate the attention you’ve given us. (And if you would be so kind as to tweet or post us somewhere, that’d be rad!) If you have any questions at all, or if you’d like to see a live demo or learn more, please contact me or David Barrett (the CEO) directly at dbarrett@expensify.com (801-860-0540). Thanks!
- Angel (angel@expensify.com)
You should follow us at http://twitter.com/expensify