BlackLine Acquires Rimilia To Boost AI-Powered AR

Account automation software firm BlackLine has acquired AI-based cloud platform Rimilia in order to expand BlackLine’s capabilities into AR automation, a new area for the company, a press release says.

The acquisition will also move along BlackLine’s goals toward modernizing accounting.

Rimilia, based out of the U.K., works to provide accounts receivable automation, helping companies control cash flow and collection in real time. It simplifies the order-to-cash process via machine learning and artificial intelligence, the release says.

With same-day cash now available, companies will be able to reduce the number of days sales are outstanding, boost cash flow and help to drive savings. The AR market, the release says, is a close cousin to the financial close, sharing a buyer and similar pain points — and cash flow optimization has a new importance because of the pandemic, which has thrown the old systems into disarray as people transitioned to working from home more often.

Marc Huffman, president & COO of BlackLine, who will also assume the CEO role of the company in 2021, said the acquisition of Rimilia would provide value for customers.

“With most companies using legacy, repetitive and manual processes to manage their order-to-cash, our customers and partners have long been asking for a solution that will enable better cash and liquidity management,” he said, according to the release. “This is especially critical now in these difficult economic times.”

He added that accounts receivable is “the single largest asset for most businesses,” and said Rimilia’s ability “to unlock working capital and reduce risk is top of mind for today’s controllers and CFOs.”

BlackLine also recently teamed with Capgemini in order to streamline financing and accounting capabilities, working to centralize key info in BlackLine’s cloud platform, PYMNTS writes.

The two companies elected to work on ways to transition customers from manual processes into more modern, updated methods.