Mod AI

What do they actually do

Mod AI provides software that automates the core steps of accounts payable for finance teams. It pulls supplier invoices from email, portals, EDI, and paper; extracts key fields; codes and matches to POs/receipts; flags anomalies and routes for approval; then syncs approved entries to ERPs like Workday and QuickBooks or hands off to payments tools (homepage, case study, YC). The company runs a sales‑led product with customer pilots; a published pilot with a large insurance firm reports faster processing and high automation accuracy (case study).

They appear focused on turning pilots into production deployments and hardening ERP/payment integrations, while improving coverage for exceptions and fraud checks, based on their site and YC materials (homepage, YC).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Small in-house finance lead at a growing startup: Spends significant time pulling invoices from email/portals, coding, and chasing approvals instead of higher‑value finance work. Needs a reliable way to ingest, code, and route invoices with minimal manual effort.
• AP clerk or accounts payable team at a mid‑market company: High invoice volumes and frequent exceptions (PO mismatches, missing line items) create backlogs and late payments. Needs accurate extraction and automated matching to cut manual entry and speed approvals.
• Shared‑services or centralized AP group at a large enterprise: Complex ERPs, audit requirements, and fraud risk make manual processing slow and error‑prone. Needs tools to read invoices accurately, surface anomalies, and sync clean entries into systems like Workday.
• CFO or Controller responsible for cashflow and controls: Limited visibility into accurate, timely payables causes missed discounts, duplicate payments, and weak controls. Needs auditable, end‑to‑end workflows that post clean entries to the ledger.
• Finance operations / FP&A lead scaling without more headcount: Growth adds suppliers and invoice sources (email, EDI, paper) that current processes can’t handle cost‑effectively. Needs an automated pipeline that moves from pilot to steady, production processing.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Run hands‑on, sales‑led pilots with inbound YC/demo leads and referrals, scoped to a clear AP pain (e.g., invoice ingestion → ERP sync) and measured with pilot KPIs similar to the insurance case study (homepage, case study, YC).
• First 50: Productize the pilot into a fixed‑scope 30–90 day package sold by a small SDR/AE team and delivered via a template onboarding playbook plus one integrations engineer; add bookkeeping/AP partners and accounting consultancies as channel feeders (homepage, YC).
• First 100: Introduce a priced production‑onboarding SKU, expand ERP/payments integrations (e.g., Workday/QuickBooks now; add NetSuite/Sage/Oracle), build customer success for rollouts, and use ERP marketplaces, partner listings, and case studies to win larger shared‑services and enterprise accounts (case study, homepage, YC).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Analyst estimates put accounts payable automation software in the low‑to‑mid single‑digit billions today, e.g., about $3.1B in 2023 growing ~13% CAGR and around $6.2B in 2025, with broader invoice‑processing markets estimated much larger (Grand View Research, Mordor Intelligence, Credence Research).

Bottom-up calculation:

Illustrative: assume ~200,000 global companies in the 100–5,000 employee band are realistic AP‑automation buyers within 5 years, at an average $20k ARR per account. That implies roughly $4B in annual software spend, consistent with top‑down AP‑automation ranges.

Assumptions:

• Targetable company count ≈200k globally in 100–5,000 employee segment with active invoice workflows.
• Average contract value (software only) ≈$20k ARR, reflecting mid‑market/enterprise deployments rather than very small businesses.
• Assumes these firms are within a 5‑year adoption window (effective adoption rate embedded in targetable count).

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Bill.com: Cloud AP and payments for small/growing businesses; self‑serve bill capture, approvals, and vendor payments synced to accounting.
• Tipalti: End‑to‑end payables and global payouts for multi‑entity/international vendors; strong in onboarding, tax/compliance, and fraud controls.
• Stampli: Invoice‑centric AP automation with AI‑assisted extraction/coding and collaboration; known for exception handling and ERP integrations.
• AvidXchange: AP automation plus large payments network focused on mid‑market and enterprise; emphasizes invoice digitization and at‑scale payments.
• Airbase (part of Paylocity): Spend management and AP automation in one system (cards, expenses, invoice‑to‑GL); used by startups and growth‑stage finance teams.