Financial reporting and the audit process aren't often on the list of sexy topics that tech startups want to tackle, but financial reporting errors like those experienced by Lyft earlier this year can have disastrous consequences for a company. Just ask Lyft.
After years of doing reporting and auditing work for companies like Miro, Autodesk, Dropbox, Flexport, and Yelp, Mary Antony and Kelsey Gootnick decided that reporting and auditing also required their love of technology.
Both have backgrounds in accounting and met while leading accounting at Flexport in 2018. They saw firsthand how difficult it is for companies to put together financial statements and disclosures that can take weeks or months to put together and are often prone to errors that can have serious consequences for a company if presented incorrectly.
So in 2023, the company founded San Francisco-based InScope to leverage machine learning and large-scale language models to deliver financial reporting and audit processes for midmarket and large enterprises. The company launched in beta for customers using Oracle NetSuite in early 2024.
CEO Antony said the first version of the product included automation of GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) and non-GAAP reporting, including cash flow statements.
“It's like a Sudoku puzzle where you have to play around with trial and error to get the right answer,” Antony told TechCrunch. “The cash flow statement is one of the most important metrics for a business, so it shouldn't be a Sudoku puzzle, or any puzzle in general. We make it easy for our customers to create accurate and reliable financial statements at any time.”
InScope's financial reporting tool. Image courtesy of InScope
In addition to the cash flow statement, the company plans to release features later this year that will help customers prepare annual and quarterly financial reports, Antony said.
Currently, InScope's closest competitor is Workiva, which also offers finance and audit software, but Gootnick said Workiva's products are focused on public companies, while InScope focuses on private companies.
While some traditional professional services firms offer similar services that indirectly compete with them, Antony and Gutnick see Inscope's products as more complementary to their own, and Gutnick said Inscope may even become one of their own customers.
InScope has five initial customers and is in the process of signing six more. The company is now profitable and aims to grow both its customer base and revenue tenfold by the end of the year, Antony said.
This growth has attracted venture capital investors, who recently infused the company with $4.3 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by a group of private investors that included Vipul Ved Prakash (founder and CEO of Together AI), Jake Heller (founder and CEO of Casetext), Debbie Clifford (CFO of Autodesk), Justin Coulombe (CFO of Miro) and Nadia Asoyan (CFO of Strike).
The founders say their next steps include expanding their customer base to 50 companies by the end of the year and using the investment to expand their product, grow their team, and strengthen their AI capabilities.
Better Tomorrow Ventures has advised the company since inception, and InScope also participated in Better Tomorrow's inaugural accelerator program in 2023.
“When I met the team through the accelerator program, it was immediately clear to me how passionate and dedicated they were to fixing key factors that could be detrimental to the company's success,” Better Tomorrow Ventures co-founder Seal Mornot said in a statement. “After advising the team for a few weeks, I knew if there was anyone who could tackle this problem, it was Mary and Kelsey.”
Editor's note, June 12, 8:20 a.m. PST: After publication, the company clarified that new investor Lightspeed led the current round, and Better Tomorrow's Sheel Mohnot led the earlier round. The headline has been changed to reflect this information.