Xero's Australian customer base approaches 100,000

New Zealand accounting software company Xero has expanded its worldwide customer base to over a quarter of a million people, nearly double what the company reported a year ago.

The company today announced that it had more than 250,000 customers as of the end of January 2014, and had been able to add 115,000 customers in the last 12 months. Of those numbers, the Australian market is approaching 100,000 customers.

Xero founder and chief executive Rod Drury said the milestone showed that the company is gaining momentum.

"The results we have achieved over the last year is testament to the innovation of the product development team, which is working hard to build the features enabling us to target all small businesses in our core markets, as well as the wider teams in US, Australia, the UK, and here in New Zealand.

"Building a financial platform is a huge investment, and I'm very proud of the results our team has delivered."

Back in October, the company reported having 211,300 paying customers on its books as of September 30. At that point, it was up 89 percent on the 2012 figure of 111,800.

"We are seeing an entire industry coming together, made up of accountants, bookkeepers, financial advisers, add-on developers, cloud integrators, and even banks, recognising the opportunity to connect via the cloud and drive productivity gains for small business," Xero Australia managing director Chris Ridd said at the time.

"All of these factors make us confident about the continued popularity of Xero online accounting software in Australia against the incumbents."

Its operating revenue for the first half of FY 2014 exceeded NZ$30.3 million; up 84 percent on the previous year, once revenue from its discontinued Xero Personal product is subtracted.

Xero has development offices in New York, San Francisco, Wellington, Auckland, Canberra, and Melbourne, with sales and support offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth.