Even for those without an accounting background, a quick look at regulatory filings like a 10-K or 10-Q reveals the inherently complex and time-consuming nature of preparing financial statements.
While established platforms such as Workiva and Donnelley Financial Solutions aim to streamline financial reporting, experienced accountants Mary Antony (pictured right) and Kelsey Gootnick (pictured center) frequently encountered significant manual obstacles within these very tools, leading to considerable exhaustion.
The two first crossed paths seven years ago at Flexport, where Gootnick served as controller and Antony as assistant controller. Their professional connection endured even as Antony transitioned to Miro and Gootnick moved to Hopin, and subsequently Thrive Global.
Across their various roles and organizations, Antony and Gootnick consistently faced the same recurring manual challenges in financial reporting.
Antony elaborated to TechCrunch, stating, “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.”
This persistent issue prompted the duo to launch InScope in 2023. InScope is an AI-powered financial reporting platform designed to automate numerous aspects of the financial statement preparation process for companies and accounting firms. The startup recently secured $14.5 million in Series A funding, with Norwest leading the round, and participation from Storm Ventures, alongside existing investors Better Tomorrow Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
While InScope is not yet capable of fully automating the generation of income statements and balance sheets, it significantly reduces manual busy work, from verifying calculations to ensuring consistent formatting. According to InScope CEO Antony, simply standardizing dollar signs and commas can save accountants up to 20% of their valuable time.
Over the past year, InScope has demonstrated impressive growth, expanding its customer base fivefold and attracting prominent accounting firms, including CohnReznick, which ranks among the top 15 nationally.
Naturally, it may take time for accountants—a profession Antony characterizes as risk-averse—to fully embrace AI for complete financial statement automation. Nevertheless, achieving this comprehensive automation remains InScope's ultimate objective.
Sean Jacobsohn, a partner at Norwest, informed TechCrunch that his investment in InScope was driven by feedback from multiple clients who attested to the significant time savings provided by the startup’s product.
Jacobsohn is convinced that InScope possesses a unique advantage, primarily because few founders possess the specific, in-depth expertise required to truly innovate in financial reporting technology.
He emphasized the critical need for insider perspective, stating, “It’s a very complex space, and you need to be able to have been in the shoes of the buyer before.”
Antony concurs that accountants are not typically inclined to launch startups. However, she and Gootnick honed their entrepreneurial instincts through years of operating within the dynamic, fast-paced environments of other high-growth startups.
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