Avid Ventures

Oct 26, 2023

Basis – an AI platform for accounting firms – has recently emerged from stealth with a $3.6 million seed round led by Better Tomorrow Ventures with participation from BoxGroup, Avid Ventures, several top accounting firms, and leaders from the accounting and machine learning communities. Leading the company are Matthew Harpe and Mitchell Troyanovsky, long-time friends – who believe that the impact of cutting-edge AI on the accounting profession will be on par with the shift from paper to digital, enabling accountants to focus on the most meaningful, value-accretive work such as advising clients, strategizing on complex topics, and building relationships, instead of repetitive, laborious tasks. The company is already putting cutting-edge AI in the hands of accountants, indicating just how fast AI may begin meaningfully touching fundamental parts of our society. Now, Basis is publicly announcing its first two products: an AI assistant called “Basis Intern” designed to help accountants with tax and accounting questions and workflows and “Basis Accountant” – which sits alongside existing software and gives accountants a team of AI assistants to streamline tasks such as closing books, adjusting entries, reconciling accounts, compiling financial statements, generating work papers, etc. Basis’ platform is also coming on the heels of a national accounting shortage, with many accountants leaving their roles, fewer students seeking accounting degrees, and rising salaries and costs throughout the industry. And Basis plans to use the funding to develop further and scale its platform. KEY QUOTE: “While there’s been lots of AI talk recently, we have yet to see recent AI advances start to transform the financial services space. The Basis team is one of the first to help an industry truly transform the way they work. We’re excited to partner with Matt and Mitch in their journey to change the industry and build a solution that’s central to managing and understanding financial data.” — Sheel Mohnot, co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures Sponsors