Artificial intelligence is no longer just a back-office tool in finance. It is now directly affecting how accounting firms operate and how financial markets react.
Now, AI-for-accounting startup Basis has joined the unicorn club. The company has raised $100 million in a fresh funding round at a valuation of $1.15 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Venture capital firm Accel led the round, with participation from GV, former Goldman Sachs Group CEO Lloyd Blankfein, and existing investor Khosla Ventures. To date, Basis has raised $138 million.
The company says its platform is already used by about 30 per cent of the top 25 accounting firms in the US and 20 per cent of the top 150 firms.
With the new $100 million injection, the company plans to expand its customer base and deepen its capabilities in tax and audit. The unicorn also intends to grow its machine learning and engineering teams to keep up with demand.
AI agents for accounting firms
Founded in 2023, Basis builds AI agents for accounting firms. These agents handle routine but time-consuming tasks such as preparing financial statements, filing tax returns and tracking expenses.
The pitch is simple: automate the repetitive work so accountants can focus on higher-value advisory roles.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that wealth management stocks fell after Altruist Corp. launched AI agents for tax planning. Days before that, shares of financial data providers fell after Anthropic unveiled a new model it said could handle complex financial research.
Basis is entering an increasingly crowded field. Earlier this month, General Catalyst invested $65 million in Accrual, an AI accounting software startup. In January, French fintech Pennylane raised €175 million in a funding round led by TCV, reports Bloomberg.
Increase in the shortage of accountants
Despite fears of automation, demand for accountants is expected to grow over the next several years, according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics.
The challenge is supply. Fewer students are choosing accounting careers, and many experienced professionals are retiring or leaving the field.
Basis CEO Matt Harpe says the company is not trying to replace accountants but to support them. By automating standard tax returns and financial statement preparation, human accountants can shift toward higher-level advisory work.
That includes helping clients make decisions on tax strategy, capital allocation and long-term planning.
Building long-horizon AI agents
One of Basis’s core differentiators is its focus on what it calls “long-horizon agents,” claims the company. These are AI systems designed to work on complex accounting tasks for hours or even days, rather than answering quick prompts, reports Bloomberg.
The company works closely with OpenAI, using its models to manage increasingly complicated accounting workflows, Troyanovsky told Bloomberg.
Basis has created an AI agent that can independently handle complex partnership tax returns. Accountants need to prepare individual tax forms for each partner, manage unique profit-sharing deals, and sometimes file in several states.
