Countingup vs IBM

About

Countingup is a London-based fintech company that provides a regulated business current account with built-in accounting software specifically designed for UK sole traders and small limited companies. Founded in 2017, the company has raised £21M and built a product that eliminates the need for freelancers and micro-businesses to maintain separate business banking and accounting tools by combining them in a single app. The Countingup account is a fully regulated UK current account—not a prepaid card—with a sort code and account number, contactless Mastercard, and the ability to receive payments, pay suppliers, and manage direct debits, alongside automatic transaction categorization, VAT tracking, profit and loss reporting, and Self Assessment tax estimation built directly into the banking app.\n\nCountingup's built-in accounting layer automatically categorizes transactions as they occur, rather than requiring users to manually reconcile bank statements imported into separate accounting software. For sole traders and small limited company directors who manage their own finances without an accountant, this real-time accounting feedback reduces the end-of-tax-year scramble of reconstructing a year's worth of uncategorized transactions. The app surfaces estimated tax bills and VAT liabilities based on actual income and expenses, giving small business owners a running view of their tax obligations throughout the year rather than discovering them after the tax year closes.\n\nCountingup targets the large population of UK sole traders and micro-businesses—freelancers, tradespeople, consultants, and early-stage startups—that account for the majority of UK businesses by count but are underserved by banking products designed for larger SMEs. The company competes with Starling Bank's business accounts, Tide, and the combination of Monzo Business plus separate accounting tools. Countingup differentiates on the accounting-native product architecture—where banking and bookkeeping share the same data layer—rather than offering banking with an accounting integration that still requires manual synchronization.