Ottawa-based artificial intelligence (AI) company MindBridge has raised $60 million USD from Boston growth-stage investment firm PSG Equity to fuel its global growth plans, according to a report from The Globe and Mail that BetaKit has since confirmed with a source familiar with the deal.
Founded in 2015, MindBridge describes itself as “the world’s leading AI-powered financial risk discovery platform.” The startup sells software that helps auditors spot fraud and accounting anomalies using AI. MindBridge caters to auditors, accountants, and financial professionals in the accounting, advisory, enterprise, government, and finance sectors.
MindBridge sells software that helps auditors spot fraud and accounting anomalies using AI.
The investment follows the recent departures of MindBridge founder and chief development officer Solon Angel—who plans to explore another “specific idea in accounting tech”—and CEO Leyton Perris, who left for undisclosed reasons. Bill Hewitt, a senior advisor with PSG and a veteran American software executive, has since been appointed interim CEO, while MindBridge searches for a new permanent leader.
When reached by BetaKit via email, Hewitt confirmed the CEO change but declined to publicly confirm any details of the financing round. However, when asked how the funds from this latest round will be spent, Hewitt answered that MindBridge plans to use the proceeds for “general corporate purposes.”
For his part, Angel disclosed that MindBridge raised over $50 million in the July 25 LinkedIn post announcing his departure, while PSG Equity already lists MindBridge as a portfolio company on its website.
This round, which has not yet been publicly announced by MindBridge, comes just over four years after MindBridge secured $29.6 million CAD in combined federal and venture capital funding. That amount included a $15.1 million Series B round from PeakSpan Capital, Real Ventures, National Bank, The Group Ventures, and Reciprocal Ventures, and a $14.5 million investment from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund. At that time in 2019, MindBridge said it had raised over $45 million in total to date.
Per The Globe, $15 million USD of this $60 million PSG Equity will go to MindBridge and the remainder will buy shares from undisclosed existing investors. According to The Globe, the deal values MindBridge at $200 million CAD, twice its valuation after its Series B round.
Perris, an experienced software sales leader, became MindBridge CEO in July 2021, replacing Eli Fathi, now chair of the company’s board. According to The Globe, under Perris’s leadership, MindBridge ramped up its sales efforts and the company’s annual revenues grew more than sixfold over the past two years, surpassing $20 million in 2022.
In April 2023, MindBridge inked a big global deal with accounting giant KPMG to incorporate its software into KPMG’s digital accounting platform.
Speaking to the state of MindBridge today, Angel wrote on LinkedIn, “I am leaving an organization I wished existed when I started my career in tech, with competent executive, a clear market, global recognition and people that care to build things the right way… and with big news this year, and more to come.”
Feature image courtesy MindBridge.
