Fast growing Xero passes 200k milestone

New Zealand small business accounting software champion Xero says it now has  200,000 paying customers. The number has doubled in the past 13 months and the company has grown 400 percent in a little under two years.

The milestone was announced, appropriately, at the recent Xerocon conference in Sydney, Australia. Much of the recent growth in the company’s sales has come from Australia with a total of 75,000 customers in that country up from 51,000 in March.

Xero now has 90 staff in Australia.

This week’s Xerocon event emphasises the company’s rapid growth. It is being attended by more than 800 people and there are 53 exhibitors.

Australian Managing Director Chris Ridd says he anticipates even greater growth across the Tasman with the company’s first advertising campaign about to begin.

Xero is unusual for a New Zealand company because it has adopted a Silicon Valley style venture capital growth model where, for now at least, it is more concerned about building customer numbers than turning a profit. It has used its capital to achieve global scale, that will mean competing in the North American market as well as in countries like the United Kingdom.

Recently Xero abandoned its personal finance programme, Xero Personal.