Basis, an AI platform for accounting firms, has 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, allowing 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 Basis platform is oriented around Basis’ accounting intelligence – developed not as another software tool but a fundamental shift in how the profession approaches its practice. Basis is already putting cutting-edge AI in the hands of accountants, indicating just how quickly AI may begin meaningfully touching fundamental parts of our society.

“Accounting is the language companies use to understand their business and make decisions. It’s a critical part of our market economy and often underappreciated. Basis will give every accountant a team of AI assistants – to transform not just their practice, but to enable teams far beyond accounting to function more efficiently and effectively,” said Mitchell Troyanovsky, co-founder of Basis. 

Basis is 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, and more. “Basis Intern” leverages proprietary models trained on general accounting principles, tax laws, and generic workflows, allowing accountants to get help with general questions and tasks. Basis’ core Accountant platform relies on models trained custom for each accounting firm and their clients, unlocking human-level performance on many company-specific workflows – including ones that require judgment under uncertainty.

“It’s like having an expert assistant by your side that has been working with each of your clients for years” said Matthew Harpe, co-founder of Basis. 

Accounting firms can now leverage Basis’ technology to increase efficiencies across their work and unlock services and insights for clients that would typically be too labor-intensive. Basis’ platform also comes 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.

The concept of Basis was born when Harpe and Troyanovsky were exposed to the accounting world in their respective careers. Harpe, who worked on healthcare and data science projects at the Boston Consulting Group, was tasked with finding ways to optimize processes but quickly learned how rare it was for organizations to leverage granular accounting data in their decision-making. Meanwhile, Troyanovsky was the first product hire at Puzzle Financial, an accounting ledger startup, where he helped build the company’s platform. After seeing the inefficiencies in accounting workflows firsthand and witnessing the centrality of accounting data across industries, Harpe and Troyanovsky left their careers to start Basis. They began by spending time with a broad group of accountants, which then led to a prototype platform that received immediate interest from some of the largest accounting firms in the U.S.

Better Tomorrow Ventures, who led the funding round, believes Basis is uniquely positioned to transform the accounting industry through AI.

“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,” said Sheel Mohnot, co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures. 

Basis plans to use the funding to further develop and scale its platform.