New Zealand software vendor Xero says revenue for the first half of 2014 is expected to exceed about $25.2 million. The company published the estimates for the year ended September 30, noting the revenue would be up almost 84 percent over last year's first half. Sales in the United States are still a tiny part of the total as the category, United States/Rest of World, had annualized committed monthly revenue of about $5.2 million. Xero said the number of add-on applications rose to 300, up from 160 a year earlier. The number of paying customers hit 211,300 at the end of the half, compared to 111,800 in last year's corresponding period, an 89-percent increase. The still small number of paying customers in the U.S. was reflected in that U.S./ROW category which had 16,600 shelling out cash at the end of the half, an increase of 141 percent from 6,600 a year earlier. The company also grew staff to 584 from 278.