FibreCRM Overview: The All-in-One CRM for Accountancy Practices

UK accountancy firms are drowning in administrative work. Between KYC processes, AML checks, engagement letters, and marketing campaigns, partners spend less time advising clients and more time managing spreadsheets. The industry’s reliance on disconnected systems has created data silos that cost firms hundreds of hours annually. FibreCRM, a Penryn-based software company founded in 2007 by Simon Leek, built its business on solving this exact problem. Unlike Salesforce or HubSpot, which attempt to serve every industry, the platform mainly targets accountants. It integrates with IRIS, CCH, Sage, Xero, and QuickBooks to eliminate the redundant data entry that plagues accounting practices.

The approach has worked. The company hit $1.3 million in revenue in 2024 with just 13 employees, up from $584,800 in 2023 and $451,200 in 2021. That’s 122% growth in a single year for a company operating in a niche market.

Building for Accountants, Not Everyone

Leek came to the problem with credibility. Before founding the company, he spent time as a Major Accounts Manager at IBM and co-founded Achiever Software, which specialized in sales and customer service platforms. He also served as Business Manager at Delcam PLC.

The company didn’t launch its product to the UK accounting sector until 2017, a full decade after incorporation. The delay stemmed from development work with the company’s own accountant, who had been cobbling together data mining tools to communicate with clients. Watching this inefficient process convinced Leek there was a market for purpose-built software.

“CRM is the natural place to onboard new clients because client data is captured during the sales and marketing activity,” Leek said. “Using CRM for client take on avoids manual data entry and connects systems that would otherwise operate in isolation.”

That philosophy drives the product. The platform doesn’t just track client interactions. It manages the complete onboarding workflow, from initial contact through KYC completion and AML checks, then syncs that data bidirectionally with practice management software. Information entered once populates across multiple systems.

Investment Timeline

The company raised £750,000 in seed funding on July 18, 2019, from the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund, The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Fund (backed by the European Regional Development Fund), and the Chelverton Investor Club. Three years later, on July 15, 2022, it closed a Series A round led by Bayes Entrepreneurship, CIOSIF, and Chelverton Asset Management. Total funding stands at $1.18 million across both rounds.

The Bayes Entrepreneurship Fund is a £10 million vehicle providing growth equity to early-stage businesses. CIOSIF, meanwhile, supplied the company with a £250,000 loan to accelerate expansion.

For context, the company raised its first institutional capital 12 years after founding. That’s unusual in software. Most SaaS companies either raise early or never raise at all. The timeline suggests Leek bootstrapped for over a decade before seeking outside capital, likely reaching product-market fit on his own terms.

Integration as Competitive Moat

The platform’s technical differentiation lies in database-level integration. It doesn’t rely solely on APIs to connect with practice management systems. Instead, it operates at the database layer, synchronizing hundreds of thousands of records in seconds. This matters when accounting firms have client lists in the tens of thousands and can’t afford downtime or lag.

The company built its software on top of an open-source CRM framework, giving it access to a large developer community while maintaining focus on accounting-specific features. Deployment options include cloud hosting via Amazon Web Services or on-premise installation for firms with strict data residency requirements. The company holds Cyber Essentials certification from the UK government, a baseline security standard for handling sensitive financial data.

Integrations extend beyond practice management. FibreCRM connects with Campaign Monitor, GoToWebinar, and HubSpot Marketing Hub. The HubSpot integration deserves attention because it allows firms to attribute revenue to specific content. One firm using the platform reportedly generated over £300,000 from a single article on its website, tracked through the integration with HubSpot’s scoring system.

Clients and Market Position

The client roster includes Haines Watts, Kingston Smith, Finnies, Duncan & Toplis, and Dolan Accountancy. The company has also secured a partnership with Mercia Group, which provides training and support services to accounting firms across the UK and Ireland.

The Mercia integration focuses on engagement letter templates, a time-consuming aspect of client onboarding. By automating this process, accountants using both systems can save hundreds of hours annually. Mercia called the integration “game-changing” in promotional materials.

In 2020, FibreCRM expanded into the US market when HBK, a leading American accounting firm, adopted its technology. The move signals ambition beyond the UK, though the company remains headquartered in Cornwall and appears to generate most revenue domestically.

The Doer-Seller Problem

Accounting firms operate on a “doer-seller” model. Partners and senior managers must both deliver client work and develop new business. This creates a time allocation problem. Spending too much time on sales means client work suffers. Focusing exclusively on delivery means the pipeline dries up.

FibreCRM addresses this through opportunity management features that track potential revenue, analyze service gaps, and maintain win/loss records. It also includes automated keep-in-touch prompts that remind users to contact clients at optimal times. These features reduce the cognitive load of business development, allowing partners to focus on high-value interactions rather than administrative tracking.

For marketing departments, FibreCRM provides list compilation, campaign management, and survey capabilities. The platform’s referrer tracking identifies which sources generate the highest-quality leads, allowing firms to allocate marketing spend more effectively.

Why Vertical SaaS Works

The company represents a broader trend in enterprise software. Horizontal platforms like Salesforce dominate headlines and market capitalization, but vertical SaaS companies often achieve superior retention and expansion revenue within their niches.

The reason is specificity. Generic CRM systems require extensive customization to handle industry workflows. Accounting firms need fields for partner assignments, service line tracking, and regulatory compliance deadlines. Configuring Salesforce to handle these requirements takes consulting hours and ongoing maintenance. FibreCRM builds these features natively.

The trade-off is addressable market. The platform can only sell to accountants. Salesforce can sell to everyone. But within the accounting vertical, the product fits better, reduces implementation time, and requires less training. That translates to higher net revenue retention and lower churn.

The company’s revenue per employee also stands out. At $1.3 million in revenue with 13 employees, it generates roughly $100,000 per employee. That’s below SaaS benchmarks for mature companies but reasonable for a firm that bootstrapped for a decade before raising institutional capital.

The Path from Cornwall to Global

Operating from Penryn, Cornwall puts the company outside London’s startup ecosystem. That likely constrained access to venture capital in the company’s early years but may have also encouraged capital efficiency. The revenue growth suggests it found a sustainable model before scaling with external funding.

The accounting profession itself is consolidating. Mid-market firms face pressure from both Big Four competitors and technology-enabled disruptors. Firms that can’t digitize client management risk losing ground to more efficient rivals. The platform positions itself as the infrastructure layer for this digital transformation.

Whether the company can scale beyond the UK and into larger markets like the United States remains uncertain. American accounting firms operate under different regulatory frameworks and use different practice management systems. Replicating the deep integrations that work in the UK will require significant engineering investment.

But within its core market, the company has carved out a defensible position. It understands accounting workflows better than horizontal CRM providers and has built integrations that would take competitors years to replicate. For accountancy firms tired of disconnected systems and manual data entry, FibreCRM offers a purpose-built alternative backed by steady revenue growth and patient capital.