What Circula does

Circula GmbH is a Berlin-based software company founded in 2017 that operates an AI-powered spend management platform targeting German small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and the Mittelstand, with 101–250 employees and 2,800+ corporate customers processing over €700 million in annual transaction volume. The platform's core product is an Expense Management module that automates employee expense submission, travel expense reporting, corporate credit card reconciliation, and accounts payable processing, extended by a tax-optimized Employee Benefits suite (mobility budget, meals, vouchers, internet allowance, vacation subsidies) that leverages German income tax law for net salary optimization.

The product is built natively for German legal and accounting requirements: the travel expense and reimbursement modules are developed per PS 880 of the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer and certified GoBD-compliant, the platform is GDPR/DSGVO- and ISO 27001-compliant with servers hosted in Germany, and Circula holds DATEV Premium Partner status as the official successor to DATEV Reisekosten classic. AI capabilities span OCR-based receipt and invoice data extraction, automated compliance flagging, intelligent approval routing, and LLM-based extraction for the July 2025-launched Eingangsrechnungen (Accounts Payable) module, with deep integrations to DATEV, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Sage, Personio, Workday, and corporate cards issued via Pliant Oy under a VISA Europe license.

Circula generates revenue primarily through subscription SaaS contracts (quote-based, annual billing) priced by company size and feature scope, supplemented by transaction-based economics on its VISA corporate cards issued through Pliant. The company employs a hybrid go-to-market combining direct enterprise field sales with self-serve product-led growth (free trial) and a tax advisor referral partner program, distributed across DACH and selectively across wider Europe. Total disclosed venture funding amounts to roughly €12M Series A (January 2022, Capnamic/Peak/Storm/WENVEST/Neosfer) and approximately $16.96M Series B (May 2025, Alstin Capital led with CIBC Innovation Banking), with the business led by founder and CEO Nikolai Skatchkov.

Name

Circula

Legal name

Circula GmbH

Website

https://circula.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Circula GmbH is a Berlin-based AI-powered spend management SaaS provider serving German SMBs and mid-market companies with expense management, travel expense reporting, corporate credit cards, accounts payable processing, and tax-optimized employee benefits, built natively for DATEV, GoBD, and DSGVO compliance.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Expense Management Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Other Travel Arrangement and Reservation Services (56159)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Travel & Expense Booking Platforms (BPAMAIAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Mid/Back Office & Accounting (ERP, Billing, Reconciliation, Reporting) (THALAGAA), Central Reservation Systems (CRS) (THALACAB)

Keywords

• Expense management software
• Travel expense reporting
• Corporate credit cards
• Accounts payable automation
• Employee benefits administration

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Subscription-based SaaS: Circula operates on a subscription SaaS model with pricing based on company size and features. The platform offers various tiers for SMBs and mid-market clients including expense management, travel expense reporting, corporate credit cards, and employee benefits modules.
2. Corporate Credit Cards: Circula issues VISA corporate credit cards in partnership with Pliant Oy. Revenue may include interchange fees and card management fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Circula sells an AI-powered, German-compliance-native SaaS platform that automates employee expense management end-to-end, including receipt capture, compliance checking, approval workflows, corporate credit card reconciliation, and export to German accounting systems (notably DATEV). The platform is extended with modules for travel expense reporting, incoming invoice/accounts payable processing, and a tax-optimized employee benefits suite (mobility, meals, vouchers, internet, vacation subsidies), and serves as the official successor to DATEV Reisekosten classic.

Product overview

Circula is an AI-powered spend management platform for European businesses, built natively for German legal requirements. The platform operates as a unified platform-plus-modules architecture centered on Expense Management (Ausgabenmanagement), which encompasses travel expense reporting (Reisekostenabrechnung) and accounts payable processing (Eingangsrechnungen). Corporate credit cards (Firmenkreditkarten) integrate directly for automated expense creation and receipt matching. The Employee Benefits module extends the platform with tax-optimized offerings including Mobility Budget (Mobilitätsbudget), Lunch Benefit (Essenszuschuss), Voucher Benefit (Sachbezug), Internet Allowance (Internetpauschale), and Vacation Assistance (Erholungsbeihilfe). All products share core AI capabilities for document recognition, compliance checking, and approval automation, with native integrations to DATEV, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Personio, and other ERP/HR systems. The platform hosts over 2,800 companies processing over €700 million annually, with servers hosted in Germany and full GoBD/DSGVO compliance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Expense Management (Ausgabenmanagement) AI-powered platform for centralized management of all employee expenses and company credit cards. Automates expense submission, approval workflows, compliance checking and data export to accounting systems for German businesses.
• Travel Expense Management (Reisekostenabrechnung) DATEV-recommended travel expense software that fully automates German travel cost law including automatic per diem calculations, 3-month rule compliance and BRKG support, for businesses needing compliant Reisekostenabrechnung.
• Corporate Credit Cards (Firmenkreditkarten) Physical and virtual VISA corporate credit cards with limits up to €750,000, issued by Pliant Oy under VISA Europe Limited license. Provides automatic expense creation, AI-powered receipt matching and real-time spending visibility for companies.
• Accounts Payable / Eingangsrechnungen Digital incoming invoice processing from automated capture via email/upload through structured approval workflows to audit-compliant archiving. Features LLM-based data extraction and DATEV-compliant export, for finance teams automating Eingangsrechnungen.
• Employee Benefits (Mitarbeiter-Benefits) Tax-optimized employee benefit program using net wage optimization to reduce employer costs by ~50%, bundling mobility, meals, vouchers, internet and vacation benefits for German employers.
• Mobility Budget (Mobilitätsbudget) Configurable monthly mobility budget for all transportation modes including public transport (Deutschlandticket), fuel, bike/car sharing and car leasing, partially tax-free.
• Lunch Benefit (Essenszuschuss) Monthly meal subsidy up to €112.50 per employee with tax optimization through net wage benefits.
• Voucher Benefit (Sachbezug) Employee vouchers up to €50 monthly for fulfilling individual preferences such as supermarket shopping.
• Internet Allowance (Internetpauschale) Monthly automatic internet cost subsidy of up to €50 for employees.
• Vacation Assistance (Erholungsbeihilfe) Annual vacation subsidies starting at €156 per year for travel and recreation activities.

Quantifiable outcome

• 92% reduction in manual data entry through AI-powered receipt scanning
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration14 records

AI capability6 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• DATEVcoreTechnology or IntegrationDATEV is Circula's most significant integration partner. Circula is a DATEV Premium Partner with seamless data transfer to DATEV systems including Unternehmen Online and Rechnungswesen. The platform serves as the official successor solution for DATEV Reisekosten classic and is recommended by DATEV itself. This integration is fundamental to Circula's value proposition for German businesses.
• Microsoft Dynamics 365coreTechnology or IntegrationCircula integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, allowing seamless data synchronization between expense management and ERP systems for customers using Microsoft's business applications.
• PersoniomajorTechnology or IntegrationCircula integrates with Personio, a leading HR management system in the German-speaking market, enabling synchronization of employee data for streamlined expense management.
• WorkdaymajorTechnology or IntegrationCircula offers integration with Workday for HR and payroll synchronization, enabling automated data exchange between expense management and enterprise HR systems.
• SAPmajorTechnology or IntegrationCircula integrates with SAP systems, allowing customers using SAP for their ERP to synchronize expense data seamlessly with their existing infrastructure.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Spendesk: European spend management platform combining corporate cards, expense management, and accounts payable for SMB and mid-market companies. Directly competes with Circula in the continental European market with overlapping customer segments and a similar SaaS-plus-cards model.
• Pleo: European corporate card and expense management provider serving SMBs across DACH and the Nordics. Competes with Circula on issuance of corporate cards, automated receipt matching, and integrated expense workflows, with comparable PLG and partner-led GTM.
• Moss: Berlin-based corporate card and spend management platform targeting European SMBs. Overlaps with Circula on corporate cards, expense automation, and accounting integrations, including a strong German market presence that places it in direct competition.
• Rydoo: European expense management and travel expense platform serving mid-market and enterprise customers across multiple countries. Competes with Circula in travel expense automation and multi-country expense reporting with similar ERP/accounting integrations.
• Yokoy: Swiss AI-based spend management platform combining corporate cards, expense management, and invoice processing. Direct competitor to Circula in the DACH region with an overlapping mid-market customer profile and similar AI-driven automation focus.

Broad incumbents

• SAP Concur: Global incumbent in travel and expense management, deeply integrated into SAP ERP and large enterprise environments. Provides overlapping functionality to Circula's expense and travel expense modules but serves broader multinational deployments at a different scale and price point.
• Expensify: Public US-based expense management platform with strong brand recognition and SMB/mid-market traction globally. Competes with Circula in receipt scanning, card reconciliation, and approval workflows, with broader geographic reach but weaker German-specific compliance features.
• DATEV: Dominant German accounting software provider whose DATEV Reisekosten classic product Circula has positioned itself as the successor to. DATEV ecosystem ubiquity among German tax advisors and SMBs makes it both Circula's most important integration partner and a potential direct competitor if it rebuilds native expense capabilities.

Emerging players

• Brex: US corporate card and spend management platform expanding into European markets with combined cards, expense, and bill pay offerings. Compares to Circula on the card-plus-expense model though it serves different geographies and customer profiles today.

Others

• Lanes & Planes: German business travel booking platform that integrates with Circula for expense management. While not a direct competitor, it represents an adjacent ecosystem player in the German corporate travel and expense workflow that competes for the same finance team's budget.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/getcircula
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCffBhq-pJMp7LTeIMYSYebQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/getcircula
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/circula-tech
• Instagraminstagram.com/get_circula

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Circula