Marble, a startup constructing artificial intelligence agents for tax professionals, has raised $9 million in seed funding because the accounting industry grapples with a deepening labor shortage and mounting regulatory complexity.
The round, led by Susa Ventures with participation from MXV Capital and Konrad Capital, positions Marble to compete in a market where AI adoption has lagged significantly behind other knowledge industries like law and software development.
"After we checked out the economy and asked ourselves where AI goes to remodel the way in which businesses operate, we focused on knowledge industries — specifically businesses with hourly fee-based service models," said Bhavin Shah, Marble's chief executive officer, in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat. "Accounting generates $250 billion in fee-based billing within the US yearly. There's an amazing opportunity to extend efficiency and improve margins for accounting firms."
The corporate has launched a free AI-powered tax research tool on its website that converts complex government tax data into accessible, citation-backed answers for practitioners. Marble plans to expand into AI agents that may analyze compliance scenarios and eventually automate portions of tax preparation workflows.
Marble's backers share Shah's conviction concerning the market. "Marble is rethinking the accounting system from the bottom up. Accounting is one among the most important — and most neglected — markets in skilled services," Chad Byers, general partner at Susa Ventures, told VentureBeat. "We've known Bhavin from his time as an executive within the Susa portfolio, and have seen firsthand how sharp and execution-driven he’s. He and Geordie bring the right mixture of operational depth and product instinct to an area long overdue for change — they usually see the identical massive opportunity we do."
The accounting industry lost 340,000 staff in 4 years — and replacements aren't coming
Marble enters a market shaped by structural forces which have fundamentally altered the economics of skilled accounting.
The accounting occupation has shed roughly 340,000 staff since 2019, a 17% decline that has left firms scrambling to fulfill client demands. First-time candidates for the Certified Public Accountant exam dropped 33% between 2016 and 2021, in response to AICPA data, and 2022 saw the bottom variety of exam takers in 17 years.
The exodus comes as baby boomers exit en masse. The American Institute of CPAs estimates that roughly 75% of all licensed CPAs reached retirement age by 2019, making a demographic cliff that the occupation has struggled to deal with.
“Fewer CPAs are getting certified yr over yr," Shah said. "The industry is compressing at the identical time that there's more work to be done and the tax code is getting more complicated."
The National Pipeline Advisory Group, a multi-stakeholder body formed by the AICPA in July 2023, released a report identifying the 150-hour education requirement for CPA licensure as a major barrier to entry. A separate survey by the Center for Audit Quality found that 57% of business majors who selected to not pursue accounting cited the extra credit hours as a deterrent.
Recent legislative changes reflect the urgency. Ohio now offers alternatives to the 150-hour requirement, signaling that states are willing to experiment with pathways that might reverse enrollment declines.
Why AI transformed law and software development but left accounting behind
Despite the occupation's challenges, AI adoption in accounting has moved more slowly than in adjoining knowledge industries. Harvey and Legora have raised tons of of hundreds of thousands to bring AI to legal work. Cursor and other coding assistants have transformed software development. Accounting, in contrast, stays largely depending on legacy research platforms and manual processes.
Geordie Konrad, Marble's executive chairman and a co-founder of restaurant software company TouchBistro, attributes the gap to how people conceptualize AI's capabilities.
“It was obvious to many people who LLMs could do meaningful work by manipulating code for software developers and manipulating words for lawyers. Within the accounting industry, LLMs are going for use as reasoning agents," Konrad said. " That requires a bit more of a two-step evaluation to see why it's an enormous opportunity."
The technical challenge is substantial. Tax regulations form one of the complex, interconnected information systems that humans have created — tens of 1000’s of interlocking rules, guidance documents, and jurisdiction-specific requirements that often overlap or conflict.
"If you need to put AI through its paces and ask how far it's are available in replicating cognitive functions, that is an unbelievable playground to work in," Konrad said.
A dramatic shift: AI adoption amongst tax and finance teams doubles in a single yr
Recent data suggests the accounting occupation's stance toward AI is shifting rapidly.
A 2025 survey from Hanover Research and Avalara found that 84% of finance and tax teams now use AI heavily of their operations, up from 47% in 2024. The 2025 Generative AI in Skilled Services Report from Thomson Reuters Institute found that 21% of tax firms already use generative AI technology, with 53% either planning to adopt it or actively considering it.
Large accounting firms have invested heavily in AI infrastructure. Deloitte has developed generative AI capabilities inside its audit platform. BDO announced a $1B investment in AI over the following five years. EY launched an AI platform combining technology with strategy, transactions, and tax services. PwC estimates an entire AI-driven audit solution will launch by 2026.
But adoption at smaller firms stays uneven. In accordance with Thomson Reuters research, 52% of tax firm respondents who use generative AI depend on open-source tools like ChatGPT slightly than industry-specific solutions—a pattern that might shift as purpose-built alternatives emerge.
Marble's founders consider the hesitance stems not from technophobia but from an absence of compelling options.
“Firms need to embrace AI," Shah said. “They simply haven't seen great software and tooling made for them. That's a part of the chance — to work with them and construct something they're excited to make use of on a day-to-day basis.”
Can artificial intelligence rescue accounting's billable-hour business model?
AI's arrival in accounting raises questions on the occupation's billing structure.
Accounting firms have traditionally generated profits by billing clients for workers time, often at multiples of worker compensation costs. Junior associates performing compliance work represent a major revenue stream. If AI can automate that work, does it undercut the business model firms rely on?
Marble's founders argue the other. The chronic staffing shortage has already constrained firms' ability to capture available revenue. Advisory and consulting work — higher-margin services that clients actively want — goes undone because practitioners are buried in compliance tasks.
"Everyone within the industry agrees that an unlimited amount of advisory work simply isn't getting done," Konrad said. "Customers want it. Firms need to do it since it's high-margin, great work. But no one gets to it."
The 2025 AICPA National Management of an Accounting Practice Survey supports this view. Firms reported a median 6.7% increase in net client fees over the prior yr, with growth in audit, assurance, tax services, and client accounting advisory. Net remaining per partner climbed 11.9% from fiscal yr 2022 to fiscal yr 2024, reaching $252,663.
The survey also found growing interest in AI adoption, though most firms have yet to allocate formal budgets or develop structured training programs. Continued adoption, the survey suggested, could help expand services and fuel continued growth.
Accountants won't adopt AI tools they’ll't trust with sensitive client data
For AI to achieve accounting, it must clear a high bar for data security. Accounting firms handle a number of the most sensitive financial information within the economy. Practitioners cannot adopt tools that create compliance or confidentiality risks.
In accordance with Avalara's survey, 63% of respondents cited data security and privacy concerns as the highest barriers to automating tax and finance functions. The priority persists throughout the adoption lifecycle, from initial selection through implementation and ongoing use.
Marble has made security a foundational priority. The corporate obtained software compliance certification before releasing any product and maintains that data privacy is embedded in its operational culture from day one.
"Security is on the core of what we’re constructing," Shah said. "Every worker knows that security is critical. It's a component of our onboarding and something that we consider in every thing we do."
From number crunchers to strategic advisors: How AI could reshape accounting careers
Marble's founders reject the narrative that AI will only take away from accounting jobs. They propose as an alternative that AI will end in accounting jobs becoming more strategic and fewer characterised by repetitive execution.
They draw an analogy to architecture, where computer-aided design replaced laborious manual drafting. Architects didn’t disappear — they gained tools that permit them spend more time on creative design and fewer on mechanical reproduction.
"In the event you take a number of the hours-intensive, less creative work out of what being a junior or intermediate accountant is, and also you replace it with a job where you're knowledgeable who’s being creative, synthesizing ideas, and in a position to delegate numerous tasks to AI assistant platform solutions, you find yourself with an industry that's just so much more fun to operate in," Konrad said.
The shift could also improve client outcomes. When accountants spend less time on compliance, they’ll invest more within the strategic advisory work that clients value.
"Not only does the work turn into more enjoyable due to what you may concentrate on, but that's also what your clients are going to value more from you," Shah said.
The competitive landscape: Marble faces well-funded rivals and legacy giants
Marble enters a market with formidable incumbents and well-funded competitors. BlueJ, a world tax research platform, has raised over $100 million. Thomson Reuters, CCH, and Intuit have deep customer relationships built over many years.
However the founders see opportunity within the transition moment.
"AI has modified what’s possible within the industry," Shah said. "We’re going to work with and integrate with some technology players within the industry and in addition compete with other players with recent products powered by AI. In some cases we’re going to forget concerning the existing technology solution for doing things and return to the duty itself. We now have totally recent technological capabilities — how would you design something from a blank canvas that works with humans to perform that task?""
The choice to supply a free research tool reflects Marble's go-to-market philosophy. By giving practitioners access with out a paywall, the corporate goals to construct trust and reveal capability.
"It allows us to reveal a extremely compelling product that’s purpose-built to those which might be apprehensive about easy methods to use AI or query easy methods to adopt it. Now they don’t must take into consideration purchasing something that’s cost-prohibitive after they don't know easy methods to integrate it into their workflow," Shah said.
The $250 billion query: Can a startup transform how America does its taxes?
Marble's roadmap extends beyond research. The corporate plans to develop AI agents able to analyzing complex tax scenarios, identifying compliance issues, and eventually automating significant portions of compliance workflows — all while keeping practitioners on top of things.
The founders frame success not by way of disruption but rebalancing. Today's tax work skews heavily toward compliance, leaving the strategic advisory services that clients crave — and that generate higher margins—perpetually undone. Marble's bet is that AI can flip that equation.
"Everyone wants it to look more like compliance is completed simpler, and also you spend time talking about strategy and planning," Konrad said. "How do we modify that mix of compliance versus strategy and planning to strategy and planning first—with compliance as something that has been made dramatically simpler?"
Whether Marble can execute on that vision stays to be seen. The corporate faces entrenched competitors, a occupation that has historically resisted technological change, and the inherent unpredictability of constructing AI systems for high-stakes financial work.
However the founders are betting that the industry's demographic shift will speed up adoption in ways in which previous technology waves couldn’t. With fewer accountants entering the occupation every year and client demands only growing, firms could have an increased appetite to embrace tools that permit their remaining staff do more.
"AI goes to alter every industry — in some cases in ways that can help business models and in some cases in ways that can challenge them. We consider AI is ultimately going to make accounting firms’ businesses higher and more profitable and at the identical time end clients will improve services at higher prices," Shah said.
The accounting occupation, it seems, is about to search out out which side of that equation it lands on.
