Cloud-accounting startup XERO FPO NZ (ASX: XRO) has signed an integration deal with US bank Wells Fargo in news that is likely to improve its prospects of subscriber growth in the US market.
The fact that Wells Fargo reportedly serves more than 3 million small businesses across the US gives an idea of the size of the opportunity in the US for any accounting platform provider able to steal market share from Intuit as the operator of the dominant Quickbooks cloud-accounting software platform.
The US is already Xero's fastest growing market although that is largely because it is coming off a small base as it grew around 32% in the most recent half to record 62,000 total US subscribers as at 31 March 2016.
Notably that growth rate is only fractionally ahead of the 31% posted in a UK market coming off a much larger base to record a total of 133,000 subscribers as at the same date. In the UK Xero already has five of the top six UK banks exchanging data feeds with its platform including Barclay's, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland.
In Australia the company has an established relationship with long time supporter National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) with Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), ANZ Bank (ASX: ANZ) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) also potentially signing up in the near future.
Xero boss Rodd Drury described the Wells Fargo deal as "an exciting milestone for us in the US" with Xero's data sharing capabilities having the potential to "fundamentally rewire how small businesses operate, and light a fire in the engine room of our economies".
Investors will wonder about the potential for Xero's success in the US to light a fire under a share price that has been on a strong upward trajectory since May 5 when the company revealed more strong subscriber growth sparked by success in the UK.
Xero still trades on a whopping valuation relative to its financials that included a ballooning net loss of $82.5 million on operating revenues of $207.1 million for the financial year ending March 31 2016.
On a market valuation of $2.4 billion it remains a high-risk bet with plenty of future growth baked into the valuation. The stock opened up 2% to $18.10 in morning trade and is likely to see more buyer interest on the back of further positive news out of the US.
