BlackLine Systems
American software company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BlackLine Systems, Inc., is an American enterprise software company that develops cloud-based services designed to automate and manage the entire financial close process as well as consolidation, invoice-to-cash, and intercompany accounting.[3][4][5] The Los Angeles–based company has 17 offices worldwide.[6]
 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Nasdaq: BL Russell 2000 component S&P 600 component | |
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Founder | Therese Tucker |
| Headquarters | |
Key people |
|
| Products | Financial software |
| Revenue | $523 million[1] (2022) |
Number of employees | 1,055[2] (2019) |
| Website | www |
History
BlackLine was founded in 2001 by Therese Tucker, a former CTO at SunGard Treasury Systems.[7][8][9] The initial goal was to help customers replace their use of Excel with a suite of accounting software.[10]
The company functioned with no outside funding until 2013 when the private equity firm, Silver Lake Partners invested more than $200 million in the company.[11][10]
BlackLine reached an agreement to form a strategic alliance with the financial consulting firm McGladrey, in 2015. As part of the alliance, the companies began offering a business process as a service (BPaaS) platform.[12]
The company's IPO was October 28, 2016; they're listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol BL. [13][14]
Runbook acquisition
In September 2016, the company acquired its European competitor, Runbook for $34 million.[9][15]
Runbook marketed a dashboard software application program for SAP; before it was acquired by BlackLine.[16]
The software's "automation of recurring financial processes" adds "visibility and transparency" and strengthens "internal controls and compliance documentation" of data maintained by SAP.[17]
SAP agreement
In 2018 BlackLine reached an agreement with SAP for the latter "to resell BlackLine's .. cloud-based finance and accounting solutions" as part of "SAP Solution Extensions."[18]
Rimilia acquisition
In October 2020, the company acquired UK-based accounts receivable automation company Rimilia for $150 million.[19]
Rimilia's cloud-based SaaS platform "uses AI to accurately apply payments to customer's invoices with any ERP system".[20]
WiseLayer
In December 2025, it was announced that BlackLine had acquired WiseLayer, a New York–based artificial intelligence company specialising in AI agents for automating accounting processes. The transaction, for which financial terms were not disclosed, was intended to support the integration of AI-driven capabilities into BlackLine’s financial operations software.[21]
Operations
BlackLine provides software for more than 4,400 companies including Costco, Netflix, Coca-Cola, JetBlue Airways, Google, Kraft Heinz, Under Armour, Sirius XM Holdings.[9] The company creates enhanced financial controls, in contrast to basic general ledger applications. BlackLine's software manages financial data, reconciles balances from sub-systems, ensures accurate and complete closings, and monitors regulatory controls through a system known as continuous auditing. The company's software is cloud-based, primarily running on the Google Cloud Platform, and meets ISO 27001 standards.[22]