Blackline

BlackLine offers a cloud-based platform that provides a range of tools for automating finance and accounting processes. These include solutions for 1) financial close management, such as automating account reconciliations, transaction matching, variance analysis, and integrity management, 2) accounts receivable (AR) automation, which includes tools for automating payments to customers, invoices, credit and risk monitoring tools, and collections process automation, and 3) intercompany accounting to automate transactions between parent and subsidiary organizations. 

In September 2022, the company expanded its inter-company accounting solutions with the addition of “tax hyper-automation” capabilities. These capabilities provided a range of functionalities to enable multinational organizations to automate intercompany tax workflows across multiple legal entities, billing routes, and jurisdictional boundaries.

The company has also expanded its platform via acquisitions. In October 2023, the company acquired Data Interconnect, an electronic invoicing software provider, for an undisclosed sum. Blackline used the acquisition to introduce e-Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP) capabilities to its accounts receivable operations.

In 2020, the company acquired Rimilia, a UK-based accounts receivable automation platform, for USD 150 million. The company leveraged this acquisition to expand its capabilities in AR automation. The company then went on to acquire FourQ Systems, a financial management technology company, in January 2022, for USD 165 million. It leveraged the acquisition to enhance its existing intercompany accounting automation capabilities.

Key customers and partnerships

The company has a number of technology partnerships with companies such as Capegemini, Kiriba, Google, and Microsoft. As of October 2023, Blackline served over 4,200 enterprise and mid-sized customers across a number of industries, such as banking and financial services, consumer products and services, energy and raw materials, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. Its customers include Dentsu, SiriusXM, British Gas, Ebay, and Zendesk. 

BlackLine also provides over 30 integrations (as of December 2022) to enable users to transfer data to and from a range of third-party software, including ERPs (such as Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, and SAP), financial systems, and in-house databases.

Funding and financials

The company generated USD 590 million in revenue in 2023 and also turned  profitable with an operating income of USD 14.3 million. The company expected revenue to reach USD 637.5 billion–649.5 billion in FY2024 (implying YoY growth of ~8%–10%).

In May 2024, BlackLine announced the pricing of its USD 600 million convertible senior notes in a private placement to institutional buyers. The company intended to utilize approximately USD 53.1 million of the estimated net proceeds to pay the cost of capped call transactions and about USD 535.2 million, along with cash on hand, to repurchase approximately USD 919.8 million principal amount of previously issued outstanding convertible senior notes due 2026.