InScope, an AI-powered financial reporting platform, has raised $14.5 million in a Series A funding round. The investment was led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from Storm Ventures and existing investors Better Tomorrow Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The startup was founded in 2023 by Mary Antony and Kelsey Gootnick, both former accountants who met while working at logistics company Flexport. They launched the company to address the manual, spreadsheet-heavy processes they repeatedly encountered in financial reporting at various high-growth startups.
Solving a Universal Accounting Pain Point
The core problem InScope tackles is the fragmented and manual nature of preparing financial statements like 10-K and 10-Q filings. "The way financial statements come together, it’s just patched together in a lot of spreadsheets, moved into a bunch of Word documents, emailed back and forth between people," CEO Mary Antony told TechCrunch.
While not yet fully automating the creation of income statements and balance sheets, InScope's platform automates significant portions of the manual "busy work." This includes verifying mathematical accuracy and ensuring consistent formatting, such as the uniform placement of dollar signs and commas. Antony claims these automations can save accountants up to 20% of their time.
Gaining Traction with Major Firms
Over the past 12 months, InScope has grown its customer base by fivefold. It has attracted significant accounting firms, including CohnReznick, which is ranked among the top 15 firms nationally in the United States.
Norwest partner Sean Jacobsohn decided to invest after hearing from multiple clients that InScope's product saved them considerable time. He highlighted the founders' specific expertise as a key differentiator. "It’s a very complex space, and you need to be able to have been in the shoes of the buyer before," Jacobsohn said.
The Long-Term Vision and Industry Hurdles
InScope's ultimate goal is the full automation of financial statement preparation. However, Antony acknowledges that the accounting profession is inherently risk-averse, which may slow the adoption of such comprehensive AI solutions.
Both founders developed their entrepreneurial instincts within the fast-paced cultures of tech startups like Flexport, Miro, and Hopin, which equipped them to launch their own venture despite their accounting background. "Accountants are not typically the type to launch startups," Antony noted.