Finance chiefs often talk about wanting to play a bigger role in shaping corporate strategy. The reality, they admit, is that their teams spend most of their days patching spreadsheets, reconciling accounts and moving numbers between systems. Maximor, a New York–based start-up, thinks artificial intelligence can change that.
On Monday, the company said it had raised $9 million in seed funding to expand its finance automation platform, which uses AI agents to plug into payroll, billing, bank and ERP systems. The agents are designed to handle repetitive accounting work while producing audit-ready outputs automatically.
The financing round was led by Foundation Capital, with participation from Gaia Ventures, founded by SAP’s former chief strategy officer, and Boldcap. Notable angel investors included Aravind Srinivas, chief executive of Perplexity; Tien Tzuo, chief executive of Zuora; and finance leaders from Ramp, Gusto, Opendoor, MongoDB and the Big Four.
“Finance should be the growth engine of a company, not a cost center,” said Ramnandan Krishnamurthy, chief executive and co-founder of Maximor in a press statement. “Capital is how decisions are made. Our job is to automate the mechanics and unify the data so finance leaders can spend time guiding the business. We measure success by customer outcomes, not seats purchased.”
Maximor says that across its customer base, it has freed up about 40 percent more capacity for finance teams, leading to faster closes, cleaner audits and fewer costly errors. Rently, a property technology company with operations in three countries, cut its month-end close from eight days to four after adopting Maximor. A large registered investment adviser with billions under management was able to automate reconciliations and reporting, surfacing profitability insights that were previously out of reach.
Founded by Mr. Krishnamurthy and Ajay Krishna Amudan, both veterans of Microsoft’s digital transformation group, Maximor positions itself as a “financial command center” that integrates existing financial and operational systems into a unified platform. Its proprietary Audit-Ready Agent™ generates workpapers, reviewer notes and audit trails by default, aiming to give companies automation that is “explainable, compliant, secure and enterprise-grade.”
Investors said the start-up stood out for its approach to tying AI directly into finance systems, rather than building yet another accounting tool. “What attracted us to Maximor is their seamless integration to any ERP system,” said Ashu Garg, general partner at Foundation Capital. “Unlike solutions with disconnected AI tools, Maximor has built a unified platform where specialized AI agents work together seamlessly.”
For CFOs, that pitch is timely. The accounting profession is under strain: three-quarters of accountants are expected to retire by 2030, while fewer graduates enter the field. Finance leaders say they face a paradox of being asked to deliver strategic insight while stuck in the weeds of reconciliations and fragmented workflows.
Maximor’s vision is to create an “always-on, audit-ready AI-powered finance team” for mid-market and enterprise companies. It plans to expand deeper into automation across accounting flows, build sector-specific modules and develop tools for proactive scenario planning.
“Finance should be a growth catalyst, not a bottleneck,” said Dustin Neal, chief financial officer of Rently. “With Maximor, our team delivers reliable, audit-ready outputs efficiently while freeing up nearly 50 percent of our capacity for strategic work.”