Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

Ever wondered how Bill.com Holdings, Inc. became such a pivotal force in automating back-office finance for countless small and midsize businesses, especially after processing nearly $285 billion in total payment volume in fiscal year 2024 alone? Serving almost 494,800 customers as of June 2024, the platform significantly streamlined complex accounts payable and receivable workflows, generating over $1.27 billion in revenue during that same fiscal period. What truly underpins its operational success and business model within the bustling fintech arena? Let's explore the history, ownership structure, mission, and the core mechanics of how this company operates and generates its income.

Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) History

Understanding the roots of a company provides crucial context for its current strategy and valuation. Let's trace the journey from inception to its standing at the end of 2024.

Founding Timeline

Year established

2006

Original location

Palo Alto, California

Founding team members

René Lacerte led the founding effort, driven by the vision to simplify business payments.

Initial capital/funding

Early backing came from venture capital, including an initial seed round followed by a Series A funding of approximately $8.5 million in 2007 led by firms like Emergence Capital Partners and DCM Ventures.

Evolution Milestones

Transformative Moments

The Initial Public Offering in December 2019 marked a pivotal moment, injecting significant capital and raising the company's profile. This financial flexibility directly enabled the next major transformation.

Acquiring Divvy and Invoice2go in 2021 represented a fundamental strategic shift. It broadened the company's scope dramatically from primarily AP/AR automation to an integrated financial operations platform encompassing spend management, invoicing, and payments, significantly increasing its total addressable market and competitive positioning within the fintech landscape for SMBs.

Strategic partnerships with major financial institutions and accounting software providers throughout its history have been crucial. These integrations embedded the platform within the existing workflows of businesses and accountants, acting as powerful, scalable customer acquisition channels.

Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) Ownership Structure

Bill.com Holdings, Inc. operates as a publicly traded entity, meaning its ownership is distributed among various institutional investors, company insiders, and the general public. This structure influences its governance and strategic direction.

Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) Current Status

As of the end of 2024, Bill.com Holdings, Inc. is a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol BILL. It transitioned to public ownership through its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on December 12, 2019. Understanding its public status is crucial when considering its financial health and market position. You can explore more details here: Breaking Down Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) Ownership Breakdown

The ownership landscape is dominated by institutional investors, reflecting confidence from large financial entities. Here's a simplified breakdown based on available data towards the end of fiscal year 2024:

Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) Leadership

The company's strategic direction and day-to-day operations are guided by its executive leadership team. As of late 2024, key figures steering the organization included:

• René Lacerte: Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairperson
• John Rettig: Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Administrative Officer
• Bora Chung: Chief Product Officer
• Steve Fisher: Chief Marketing Officer

This team's experience and decisions are central to navigating the competitive fintech landscape and driving future growth.

Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) Mission and Values

The company's identity and strategic direction are deeply rooted in its mission to simplify business payments and its core values that guide employee actions and company culture. Understanding these elements offers insight into the firm's long-term goals beyond just financial performance, which is crucial for stakeholders analyzing its potential, as detailed further in Exploring Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) Investor Profile: Who’s Buying and Why?.

[Company's] Core Purpose

Official mission statement

To make it simple to connect and do business.

Vision statement

To be the leading business payments network.

Company slogan

Business payments. Simple. Smart. Connected.

Company Values

The operational philosophy and culture are built upon several key principles:

• Humility: Approaching challenges and interactions with openness and respect.
• Authenticity: Being genuine and transparent in all dealings.
• Passion: Demonstrating enthusiasm and dedication to the mission and customers.
• Accountability: Taking ownership of actions and outcomes.
• Fun: Fostering an enjoyable and engaging work environment.

Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) How It Works

The company provides cloud-based software that simplifies, digitizes, and automates complex back-office financial operations for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). It essentially acts as a central hub for managing accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR), connecting businesses, their suppliers, and their customers.

Bill.com's Product/Service Portfolio

Bill.com's Operational Framework

The company operates primarily through its intelligent business payments platform, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline workflows. Businesses connect their accounting software and bank accounts to the platform. For AP, invoices are received (often electronically or scanned), AI helps extract data, they route through digital approval workflows, and payments are scheduled and executed via the company's proprietary network or traditional methods. For AR, businesses create and send invoices, customers can pay electronically through various options, and payments are automatically reconciled. The platform processed approximately $287 billion in Total Payment Volume (TPV) in fiscal year 2024, demonstrating its scale. Understanding who invests in such a framework can be insightful; Exploring Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) Investor Profile: Who’s Buying and Why? offers perspective on this.

Bill.com's Strategic Advantages

• Network Effects: Its large, established network of buyers and suppliers creates significant value, making it easier for new customers to connect and transact with existing partners already on the platform. As of mid-2024, the platform served over 470,000 businesses.
• Proprietary Payment Technology: The company manages a complex payment engine optimized for B2B transactions, offering flexibility and efficiency in payment types and timing.
• Deep Integrations: Seamless integration with major accounting systems (like QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite) makes adoption easier and creates stickiness.
• Data Intelligence: Access to vast amounts of transaction data allows the company to refine its AI models, improve automation, manage risk, and potentially offer data-driven insights to customers.
• Brand Recognition & Trust: Significant brand presence and established trust within the SMB and accounting community act as a competitive moat.

Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) How It Makes Money

Bill.com primarily generates revenue through subscription fees for its cloud-based software and transaction fees associated with payment processing and other services. These dual streams capitalize on both platform adoption and usage volume.

Bill.com's Revenue Breakdown

Bill.com's Business Economics

The company operates on a SaaS model combined with transaction-based pricing. Customers typically pay monthly or annual subscription fees, often tiered based on features and the number of users. Additionally, transaction fees are levied for processing payments like ACH, checks, and cross-border transactions; these fees can be per-item or based on volume. A significant portion of transaction revenue also comes from interest earned on funds held for customers during the payment clearing process (float revenue). The economic engine heavily relies on increasing both the customer base subscribing to the platform and the Total Payment Volume (TPV) processed through it. Understanding the company's goals can provide further context; explore the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL). Driving adoption among small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and expanding partnerships with financial institutions are key strategies.

Bill.com's Financial Performance

Evaluating Bill.com's financial health involves looking at several key indicators from its fiscal year ending June 30, 2024.

• Total Revenue reached approximately $1.26 billion, marking a year-over-year increase of about 20%.
• Non-GAAP Gross Profit Margin remained strong at approximately 86%, indicating efficient core operations.
• Total Payment Volume (TPV) processed on the platform was around $275 billion for the fiscal year.
• The company reported a Non-GAAP Operating Income of approximately $268 million, showing operational profitability on an adjusted basis, despite a GAAP operating loss.
• The customer base grew to include approximately 471,100 Bill.com customers.

These metrics collectively illustrate the company's scale, growth trajectory, and operational efficiency within the B2B payments space as of the end of fiscal year 2024.

Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) Market Position & Future Outlook

As of early 2025, the company maintains a strong position in the SMB financial automation market, leveraging its extensive network, though facing intensifying competition. Its future outlook hinges on successful platform integration, expanding payment functionalities, and navigating macroeconomic pressures impacting its core small and medium-sized business clientele, following a fiscal year 2024 that saw revenue grow 21% to approximately $1.28 billion.

Competitive Landscape

The market for SMB financial operations software is fragmented and highly competitive, featuring established accounting software providers, dedicated AP/AR automation solutions, and newer fintech entrants.

Opportunities & Challenges

Navigating the path forward involves capitalizing on growth avenues while mitigating potential headwinds.

Industry Position

The company is a recognized leader specifically within the cloud-based AP/AR automation niche for US SMBs, serving approximately 471,500 businesses as of mid-2024 and processing significant Total Payment Volume (TPV), around $288 billion in fiscal 2024. Its strategy revolves around becoming the essential financial operations platform for SMBs, moving beyond just AP/AR to include spend management (Divvy) and AR solutions (Invoice2go). This strategic positioning attracts considerable attention, detailed further here: Exploring Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (BILL) Investor Profile: Who’s Buying and Why? However, it operates in a dynamic field where accounting software giants like Intuit are expanding their capabilities, and numerous venture-backed fintechs are competing aggressively on features and price. Maintaining its growth trajectory requires continuous innovation and successful execution of its platform strategy against these varied competitive forces.