Marble, a startup constructing synthetic intelligence brokers for tax professionals, has raised $9 million in seed funding because the accounting trade grapples with a deepening labor scarcity and mounting regulatory complexity.
The spherical, led by Susa Ventures with participation from MXV Capital and Konrad Capital, positions Marble to compete in a market the place AI adoption has lagged considerably behind different data industries like regulation and software program improvement.
"When we looked at the economy and asked ourselves where AI is going to transform the way businesses operate, we focused on knowledge industries — specifically businesses with hourly fee-based service models," stated Bhavin Shah, Marble's chief government officer, in an unique interview with VentureBeat. "Accounting generates $250 billion in fee-based billing in the US every year. There's a tremendous opportunity to increase efficiency and improve margins for accounting firms."
The corporate has launched a free AI-powered tax analysis device on its web site that converts advanced authorities tax information into accessible, citation-backed solutions for practitioners. Marble plans to develop into AI brokers that may analyze compliance situations and ultimately automate parts of tax preparation workflows.
Marble's backers share Shah's conviction concerning the market. "Marble is rethinking the accounting system from the ground up. Accounting is one of the biggest — and most overlooked — markets in professional services," Chad Byers, common accomplice at Susa Ventures, informed VentureBeat. "We've known Bhavin from his time as an executive in the Susa portfolio, and have seen firsthand how sharp and execution-driven he is. He and Geordie bring the perfect mix of operational depth and product instinct to a space long overdue for change — and they see the same massive opportunity we do."
The accounting trade misplaced 340,000 employees in 4 years — and replacements aren't coming
Marble enters a market formed by structural forces which have essentially altered the economics {of professional} accounting.
The accounting career has shed roughly 340,000 employees since 2019, a 17% decline that has left companies scrambling to satisfy consumer calls for. First-time candidates for the Licensed Public Accountant examination dropped 33% between 2016 and 2021, in response to AICPA information, and 2022 noticed the bottom variety of examination takers in 17 years.
The exodus comes as child 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 career has struggled to handle.
“Fewer CPAs are getting certified year over year," Shah said. "The industry is compressing at the same 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 significant barrier to entry. A separate survey by the Center for Audit Quality found that 57% of business majors who chose not to pursue accounting cited the additional 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 could reverse enrollment declines.
Why AI transformed law and software development but left accounting behind
Despite the profession's challenges, AI adoption in accounting has moved more slowly than in adjacent knowledge industries. Harvey and Legora have raised hundreds of millions to bring AI to legal work. Cursor and other coding assistants have transformed software development. Accounting, by contrast, remains largely dependent 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 that LLMs could do meaningful work by manipulating code for software developers and manipulating words for lawyers. In the accounting industry, LLMs are going to be used as reasoning agents," Konrad said. " That requires a bit more of a two-step analysis to see why it's a big opportunity."
The technical challenge is substantial. Tax regulations form one of the most complex, interconnected information systems that humans have created — tens of thousands of interlocking rules, guidance documents, and jurisdiction-specific requirements that frequently overlap or conflict.
"If you want to put AI through its paces and ask how far it's come in replicating cognitive functions, this is an unbelievable playground to work in," Konrad said.
A dramatic shift: AI adoption among tax and finance teams doubles in one year
Recent data suggests the accounting profession'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 in their operations, up from 47% in 2024. The 2025 Generative AI in Professional 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 within its audit platform. BDO announced a $1B investment in AI over the next five years. EY launched an AI platform combining technology with strategy, transactions, and tax services. PwC estimates a complete AI-driven audit solution will launch by 2026.
But adoption at smaller firms remains uneven. According to Thomson Reuters research, 52% of tax firm respondents who use generative AI rely on open-source tools like ChatGPT rather than industry-specific solutions—a pattern that could shift as purpose-built alternatives emerge.
Marble's founders believe the hesitance stems not from technophobia but from a lack of compelling options.
“Firms want to embrace AI," Shah said. “They just haven't seen great software and tooling made for them. That's part of the opportunity — to work with them and build something they're excited to use on a day-to-day basis.”
Can synthetic intelligence rescue accounting's billable-hour enterprise mannequin?
AI's arrival in accounting raises questions concerning the career's billing construction.
Accounting companies have historically generated income by billing purchasers for employees time, usually at multiples of worker compensation prices. Junior associates performing compliance work symbolize a major income stream. If AI can automate that work, does it undercut the enterprise mannequin companies rely upon?
Marble's founders argue the other. The continual staffing scarcity has already constrained companies' potential to seize out there income. Advisory and consulting work — higher-margin companies that purchasers actively need — goes undone as a result of practitioners are buried in compliance duties.
"Everybody within the trade agrees that an unlimited quantity of advisory work merely isn't getting finished," Konrad said. "Prospects need it. Corporations need to do it as a result of it's high-margin, nice work. However no person will get 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 year, with growth in audit, assurance, tax services, and client accounting advisory. Net remaining per partner climbed 11.9% from fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 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 can't trust with sensitive client data
For AI to succeed in accounting, it must clear a high bar for data security. Accounting firms handle some of the most sensitive financial information in the economy. Practitioners cannot adopt tools that create compliance or confidentiality risks.
According to Avalara's survey, 63% of respondents cited data security and privacy concerns as the top barriers to automating tax and finance functions. The concern persists throughout the adoption lifecycle, from initial selection through implementation and ongoing use.
Marble has made security a foundational priority. The company obtained software compliance certification before releasing any product and maintains that data privacy is embedded in its operational culture from day one.
"Safety is on the core of what we’re constructing," Shah said. "Each worker is aware of that safety is crucial. It's part of our onboarding and one thing that we contemplate in all the pieces 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 instead that AI will result in accounting jobs becoming more strategic and less characterized by repetitive execution.
They draw an analogy to architecture, where computer-aided design replaced laborious manual drafting. Architects did not disappear — they gained tools that let them spend more time on creative design and less on mechanical reproduction.
"For those who take a number of the hours-intensive, much less inventive work out of what being a junior or intermediate accountant is, and also you substitute it with a task the place you're knowledgeable who’s being inventive, synthesizing concepts, and capable of delegate a variety of duties to AI assistant platform options, you find yourself with an trade that's simply much more enjoyable to function in," Konrad said.
The shift could also improve client outcomes. When accountants spend less time on compliance, they can invest more in the strategic advisory work that clients value.
"Not solely does the work develop into extra pleasurable due to what you’ll be able to deal with, however that's additionally what your purchasers are going to worth extra 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 global tax research platform, has raised over $100 million. Thomson Reuters, CCH, and Intuit have deep customer relationships built over decades.
But the founders see opportunity in the transition moment.
"AI has modified what’s potential within the trade," Shah said. "We’re going to work with and combine with some expertise gamers within the trade and likewise compete with different gamers with new merchandise powered by AI. In some circumstances we’re going to overlook concerning the present expertise answer for doing issues and return to the duty itself. We’ve completely new technological capabilities — how would you design one thing from a clean canvas that works with people to perform that job?""
The choice to supply a free analysis device displays Marble's go-to-market philosophy. By giving practitioners entry with no paywall, the corporate goals to construct belief and exhibit functionality.
"It allows us to expose a really compelling product that is purpose-built to those that are worried about how to use AI or question how to adopt it. Now they don’t have to think about purchasing something that is cost-prohibitive when they don't know how to integrate it into their workflow," Shah stated.
The $250 billion query: Can a startup remodel how America does its taxes?
Marble's roadmap extends past analysis. The corporate plans to develop AI brokers able to analyzing advanced tax situations, figuring out compliance points, and ultimately automating important parts of compliance workflows — all whereas preserving practitioners in management.
The founders body success not by way of disruption however rebalancing. Immediately's tax work skews closely towards compliance, leaving the strategic advisory companies that purchasers crave — and that generate larger margins—perpetually undone. Marble's guess is that AI can flip that equation.
"Everyone wants it to look more like compliance is done simpler, and you spend time talking about strategy and planning," Konrad stated. "How do we change that blend of compliance versus strategy and planning to strategy and planning first—with compliance as something that has been made dramatically simpler?"
Whether or not Marble can execute on that imaginative and prescient stays to be seen. The corporate faces entrenched opponents, a career that has traditionally resisted technological change, and the inherent unpredictability of constructing AI programs for high-stakes monetary work.
However the founders are betting that the trade's demographic shift will speed up adoption in ways in which earlier expertise waves couldn’t. With fewer accountants getting into the career every year and consumer calls for solely rising, companies could have an elevated urge for food to embrace instruments that permit their remaining employees do extra.
"AI is going to change every industry — in some cases in ways that will help business models and in some cases in ways that will challenge them. We believe AI is ultimately going to make accounting firms’ businesses better and more profitable and at the same time end clients will get better services at better prices," Shah stated.
The accounting career, it appears, is about to search out out which aspect of that equation it lands on.
