Expensify was founded in 2008 by current CEO David Barrett. Barrett, a native of Saginaw, Michigan, and a graduate of the University of Michigan, began programming at the age of six. He was involved in numerous tech companies prior to Expensify, including RedSwoosh, for which he developed the file transfer technology. RedSwoosh was later purchased by Akamai Technologies. Barrett has said he founded Expensify because of his "hatred" of expense reports--the company's slogan is "Expense reports that don't suck!" The company has completed several rounds of venture capital funding, raising $1 million in 2009, $5.7 million in 2010, $3.5 million in 2014, and $17 million in 2015. Expensify has offices in San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; London, U.K.; Melbourne, Australia; and Ironwood, Michigan, an office opened in a nod to Barrett's Michigan roots. The company, which expanded its operation in Michigan in 2014 and is considered one of the largest employers in the Upper Peninsula, partnered with Gogebic Community College to offer scholarships to students in the area. In July 2015, CEO David Barrett addressed United States Congress on behalf of the app industry, speaking to a House, Health, and Technology subcommittee. In November 2017, the company faced allegations that it had exposed some customers' personal information to contractors manually entering receipts through Amazon's Mechanical Turk service. Expensify acknowledged that a bug allowed fewer than 200 receipts to be visible to certain company contractors using Mechanical Turk to test a new feature under development. The company halted the test.
Products
Expensify has developed an expense reporting mobile and web application available in the Apple and Android marketplaces. The app tracks and files expenses such as fuel, travel, and meals; once users photograph receipts, artificial intelligence identifies the merchant, date and amount of the transaction, then automatically categorizes and saves the expense. It also allows users to create receipts from online purchases that can be submitted for reimbursement. Expensify allows users to download expense reports based on user transactions. It also integrates with other financial applications and can also automatically import expenses incurred with partner companies.
Expensify Ventures
Expensify launched a venture capital arm, Expensify Ventures, as part of a $17 million round of funding the company received in early 2015. Expensify Ventures makes strategic investments in early-stage travel, payments, and finance startups.
