The $100 Million Sprint: Campfire’s Breakneck Rise and the Fall of Legacy ERP Giants

The $100 Million Sprint: Campfire’s Breakneck Rise and the Fall of Legacy ERP Giants

A New Rebel in Enterprise Finance

SAN FRANCISCO — High above the boardrooms where Oracle and SAP have dominated since the ’90s, a quiet revolution is unfolding. It’s not built on endless consulting hours or bloated rollouts. It’s powered by speed—and that’s what scares the incumbents most.

Campfire Software just raised $65 million in Series B funding—only 12 weeks after closing its Series A. In the ERP world, that kind of velocity is unheard of. The round, co-led by Accel and Ribbit Capital, pushes total funding past $100 million, making Campfire one of the fastest-capitalized AI-native ERPs in recent memory.

But the money isn’t the headline. The customer list is. PostHog, Replit, Decagon, and even NYSE-listed LimaOne are ditching legacy systems. LimaOne’s CFO, Patrick Journy, praised Campfire’s “granularity of permissioning for a SOX environment,” a phrase that makes compliance teams sit up straight.

Finance Teams Are Done Waiting

The timing couldn’t be sharper. By late 2025, the $148 billion ERP market sits at a breaking point. Three forces are colliding: AI built for finance, burnout from endless manual reconciliations, and a new generation of CFOs who won’t accept month-long closes.

Campfire’s founder and CEO, John Glasgow, knows this pain firsthand. A former finance executive, he built Campfire as revenge against spreadsheet chaos. The platform’s promise is simple but powerful: automate the tedious work that eats up nearly half of finance teams’ time. This message has sparked 10x revenue growth across six continents.

At the heart of it all lies L.A.M. (Large Accounting Model)—Campfire’s proprietary AI trained purely on accounting data. While general AI might confuse a debit with a credit, L.A.M. delivers up to 95% accuracy on reconciliations and variance detection. Translation? No more armies of exhausted junior accountants crunching numbers at midnight.

Twelve Weeks That Shook Sand Hill Road

Traditional venture playbooks say Series B rounds should come 12–18 months after Series A. Campfire didn’t wait. Raising another major round in just 12 weeks signals something bigger: lightning-fast product-market fit and investors scrambling to get in before it's too late.

Nick Shalek, General Partner at Ribbit Capital, sums it up: finance teams are still stuck in Excel while every other department uses modern tools. That gap is gold—a massive arbitrage opportunity for anyone who can close it.

And top operators see it. Alongside Accel and Ribbit, the round attracted strategic angels like Ramp’s CTO, Snowflake’s VP of FP&A, and Supabase’s CFO. These are people who’ve lived the pain of legacy ERP systems and want something better.

The AI ERP Race Heats Up

Campfire isn’t alone. DualEntry, a rising rival, just announced a $90 million Series A and brags about 24-hour migrations and similar AI automation. The race is officially on.

Experts say this won’t be a winner-take-all market. We’ll likely see two or three AI-first ERPs rise to the top. The deciding factor? Who can deliver enterprise-grade audits first—and prove it.

In this game, speed beats perfection. While Oracle and SAP argue about AI roadmaps in quarterly meetings, Campfire pushes updates every week. One controller who switched from NetSuite said Campfire migrated their system in just 24 hours. NetSuite estimated six months.

Why Public Companies Care

The most powerful proof of all: public companies are buying in.

Campfire recently secured SOC 1 Type 1 certification, with Type 2 on the way. That’s essential for handling material financial data. And LimaOne—a publicly traded firm—chose Campfire over legacy giants. That sends a loud message: AI-native ERPs are now enterprise-ready.

Ryan Ang, Controller at Decagon, put it plainly: “Campfire’s AI automates your reconciliations, flags anomalies, and even helps draft reports. It’s a real game changer.” Finance teams don’t want to be spreadsheet operators anymore—they want to think strategically.

The Investor Playbook

For investors, Campfire’s trajectory opens multiple doors. The company is believed to be at $5–12 million ARR today, with potential to hit $20–30 million within 18 months. AI infrastructure startups at this stage often trade at 15–25x ARR. That implies a forward valuation of $300–750 million.

This ripple hits public markets too. Legacy ERP vendors are stuck in an innovator’s dilemma. Their cash cows also anchor them to outdated architecture. Oracle and SAP trade like mature companies, but if market share starts to slip, those multiples could fall. Meanwhile, giants like Salesforce and Microsoft might start shopping for acquisitions just to stay in the game.

Expect three major investment themes:

• AI infrastructure powering these platforms.
• Integration tools like Workato or Zapier connecting ERPs to the rest of the stack.
• Implementation partners positioned to ride the migration wave.

Watch for catalysts. A clean SOX audit completed on Campfire could crack open enterprise adoption. But one bad AI misclassification could freeze the market overnight. The upcoming EU AI Act may also favor platforms with strong explainability and compliance tools.

Some analysts suggest a barbell approach: own both the disruptors and the incumbents most likely to adapt—or acquire.

The Risks Are Real

This isn’t a guaranteed win. AI ERPs face obstacles: data security, regulatory compliance, and handling complex multi-entity accounting at scale. Many early customers are high-growth startups, which means macroeconomic slowdowns could stall deal cycles. And yes, raising money this fast could show incredible traction—or alarming burn.

Still, the writing is on the wall.

As one veteran investor put it, “The ERP revolution won’t take decades. It’ll happen faster than anyone expects.” AI will reshape finance operations. The only question is: who captures the value—and how long incumbents can hold the line.

Campfire’s 12-week sprint might go down in history as the moment the fortress walls of legacy ERP finally started to crack.

This article reflects market perspectives, not financial advice. Always assess your own risk tolerance and consult a qualified advisor before making investment decisions.