Parasut

Paraşüt is a Turkey-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) company providing cloud-based financial management and bookkeeping software for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The company was founded in 2013 by Sean Yu, Andaç Türkmen, and Fahri Özkaramanlı. The founding idea stemmed from Sean Yu's experience as a financial analyst, where he observed the difficulties business owners faced in managing their finances and recognized a market gap for a user-friendly solution in Turkey.

Co-founder Sean Yu, who served as CEO, has a background in economics from Harvard University and worked in investment banking and private equity before moving to Istanbul to work with the entrepreneurship-focused NGO, Endeavor. This experience in analyzing hundreds of companies highlighted the critical need for accessible financial data for business owners. Andaç Türkmen, the CTO, brought technical expertise to the team, having previously worked as a Project Manager at Mikro Yazılımevi, a prominent Turkish software company. Fahri Özkaramanlı, the Head of Design, has a background in Visual Communication Design and leveraged his expertise to create a user-friendly interface, a key differentiator for the product.

Paraşüt's business model is subscription-based, offering its platform to SMEs to manage their financial operations efficiently. The software enables users to track invoices, income, expenses, inventory, and current accounts. Key features include e-invoicing, online payment collection, financial reporting, and integrations with banks and e-commerce platforms. This allows businesses to manage cash flow, create financial reports, and handle pre-accounting tasks without needing extensive accounting knowledge. The platform is accessible via web browsers and mobile applications for both iOS and Android.

The company demonstrated significant growth, raising a total of $3.83M in funding from investors including 500 Global, Diffusion Capital Partners, Revo Capital, and Ribbit Capital. By 2017, Paraşüt served 7,000 customers with a trade volume of 25 billion TL. Within five years, it grew to manage the pre-accounting for over 11,000 SMEs across Turkey. In May 2019, Paraşüt was acquired by Mikro and Zirve, two larger software companies backed by private equity firms Turkven and Earlybird, becoming part of the DST Technology Group. This acquisition was positioned as a strategic move to combine forces and enhance their service offerings, with Paraşüt continuing to focus on the SME segment while its parent companies serve larger enterprises.

Keywords: financial management software, bookkeeping software, SaaS, SME accounting, cloud-based accounting, e-invoicing, expense tracking, income tracking, financial reporting, Turkish fintech, online invoicing, cash flow management, inventory management, subscription model, pre-accounting software, fintech startup, mobile accounting, DST Technology Group, Mikro Yazilim, Sean Yu, Andac Turkmen, Fahri Özkaramanlı