Clear Acquires CimplyFive in all-cash Deal

Clear (formerly ClearTax), an online tax filing service provider, has acquired company compliance automation platform CimplyFive for an undisclosed sum in an all-cash transaction. This is Clear's second acquisition this year as it expands its software platform and diversifies services for its 4,000 enterprise customers.

CimplyFive will continue to operate independently following the acquisition, with founder Shankar Jaganathan leading the company, according to the company. The acquisition would allow Stripe-backed Clear, a US payments company, to integrate compliance and governance management solutions into its existing finance cloud suite.

CimplyFive, founded in 2014, assists company secretaries in automating compliance with all provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, as well as the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) Listing Obligations (LODR). It also provides companies with system-based tracking, which assists them in staying in compliance with regulations.

“The CFO office continues to be the last member to be digitized. With the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of compliances such as board meetings have become digital, causing us to see an opportunity to enter this space. Through the acquisition, we are now targeting the company secretarial and touching upon Sebi listing obligations, by ensuring no mistakes are being made through technology intervention” Gupta said in an interaction with ET.