Fintech
VC Sheel Mohnot Leads $4.3M Seed in Automated Financial Reporting Fintech InScope
The financial reporting and audit process is not often on the list of interesting topics that tech startups want to pursue. Yet, when mistakes are made on financial reports, like that one Lyft did so earlier this year, can have disastrous consequences for a company. Just ask Lyft.
After years of reporting and auditing work for companies like Miro, Autodesk, Dropbox, Flexport, and Yelp, Mary Antony and Kelsey Gootnick decided that reporting and auditing needed some tech love, too.
They both come from an accounting background and met in 2018 while leading the accounting function at Flexport. They saw firsthand how difficult it was for companies to put together financial statements and disclosures: They can take weeks or months to compile, and many are prone to errors that can have serious consequences for companies if presented incorrectly.
So they started based in San Francisco InScope in 2023, leveraging machine learning and large language models to deliver financial reporting and audit processes for the mid-market and enterprise. They launched the company in beta in early 2024 for customers using Oracle Netsuite.
The first iteration of the product included automation of GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) and non-GAAP reporting, including cash flow statements, CEO Antony said.
“It really feels like a Sudoku that you have to do trial and error to solve the problem,” Antony told TechCrunch. “Cash flow statements are one of the most important metrics for a business, so they shouldn’t be a Sudoku or a puzzle in general. We enable our clients to have simple, yet accurate and reliable financial statements every time.”
InScope’s financial reporting tool.Image credits: In the scope /
Along with cash flow statements, the company will release a feature later this year that will help customers prepare annual and quarterly financial reports, Antony said.
InScope’s closest competitor today is Workiva, which also provides financial and audit software. However, Gootnick said Workiva’s product offering is more focused on public companies, while InScope focuses on private companies.
Some legacy professional services firms offer similar services that make them indirect competitors, but Antony and Gootnick believe the InScope product is really more complementary to them. So much so that they could be customers, Gootnick said.
InScope has five initial customers and is in the process of signing six more. The company is currently generating revenue and aims to grow both customers and revenue 10x by the end of the year, Antony said.
This growth has attracted venture capital investors, who recently injected $4.3 million in seed capital into the company. Lightspeed Venture Partners and Better Tomorrow Ventures led the round with participation from a group of individual investors including Vipul Ved Prakash (founder and CEO of Together AI), Jake Heller (founder and CEO of Casetext), Debbie Clifford (CFO of Autodesk), Justin Coulombe (Miro CFO) and Nadia Asoyan (Strike CFO).
The founders say their next steps include expanding their customer base to 50 companies by the end of the year, and they will use the investment to broaden their product, grow their team and improve their AI capabilities.
Better Tomorrow Ventures has advised the company since its inception and was also part of Better Tomorrow’s first accelerator program in 2023.
“When we met the team through our accelerator program, we immediately noticed how dedicated and passionate they were about fixing a critical component that can be detrimental to a company’s success,” said Sheel Mohnot, co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, in a note. . “After consulting with the team for a few weeks, we knew that if anyone could tackle this problem, it would be Mary and Kelsey.”