Europe’s 25 million small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) spend nearly €100 billion annually on accounting, much of it on repetitive, manual tasks ripe for automation. Enter Sumary, a Copenhagen-based startup building an AI-native accounting platform designed to transform financial workflows for SMBs across the continent.
Now the startup has announced they have raised € 3.6 million ($ 4.2 million) from byFounders and a collection of prominent business angels.
“We’re proud to lead Sumary’s $ 4.2 million pre-seed round alongside Partech and bringing on board incredible angels such as Christian Rasmussen, Morten Primdahl, Bjarke Klinge Staun and Oliver Sjöstedt,”
writes Sara Rywe at byFounders
The Problem: A Fragmented, Manual Industry
For decades, European accounting has been dominated by local giants like Visma, Sage, and Cegid, shielded by complex tax rules and national standards. But two major forces, AI and new EU regulations, are dismantling those barriers. The EU’s VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) initiative, set to mandate digital invoicing and reporting by 2030, is pushing millions of companies to modernize. Meanwhile, AI is now capable of automating bookkeeping, reconciliations, and VAT filings, adapting seamlessly to local accounting and taxation rules.
“Yes, it’s a crowded space, but the upside is enormous. We’re watching a €5 billion category expand toward €50 billion, and I genuinely believe Pascar and Lucas have what it takes to capture it. Winning here comes down to ruthless execution, smart distribution, and sharp product decisions. They move fast, think clearly, and execute with strategic precision. In a market that rewards speed and conviction, they’re exactly the kind of founders who can build one of the category-defining companies in Europe”
says Casper Bjarnason at byFounders
The Solution: AI Meets Accounting
Sumary’s platform automates the tedious parts of accounting, matching transactions, reconciling accounts, flagging VAT errors, and preparing month-end close. While also answering finance questions in plain language. The company starts as an AI layer on top of existing ledgers, such as Visma’s e-conomic, delivering immediate value without disrupting current workflows.
“It’s been, what, 15 years since anyone made B2B enterprise SaaS feel this exciting. There’s something special happening at Sumary. A brilliant team using cutting edge technology to address a stale and underserved space. They’re incredibly smart, versatile, and kind to boot – and now they’re ready to show the world what the new bar for modern B2B SaaS looks like.”
says Morten Primdahl, Co-founder of Zendesk and angel investor in Sumary.
Sumary’s strategy is simple: integrate with existing tools to automate manual processes, then expand into a full financial operating system. By partnering with top accounting firms like Baker Tilly, Deloitte, and Baltic Assist, and finance teams such as Scandinavian Biolabs and Spaak, Sumary is scaling through trusted networks, faster and more efficiently than targeting SMBs individually.
You can read more over at byFounders website.
