Adsum, a pioneer in tax-based financing, raises $5m to turbocharge the growth of UK businesses

19 May 2023

Adsum, a fintech startup blazing a trail in a new category of tax-based financing, has raised $5mn from VCs Episode 1 and Digital Horizon, with participation from D2 alongside other prominent angel investors from London and New York. The fresh funding comes in addition to credit facilities established with institutional credit investors at the end of 2021.

Through the use of its in-house technological solution, Adsum can auto-calculate VAT, R&D and creative industries tax credits and refunds, removing the need for expensive and time-consuming tax consultant work. From here, a credit line is provided that is drawable against and repaid by its users’ tax credits and refunds.

The company provides a unique offering to businesses looking for alternative financing options – and is able to provide capital in as little as twenty-four hours.

Justina Tartilaite, CEO and co-founder of Adsum, commented: “Making tax digital, open banking and open accounting bring a myriad of opportunities for businesses today; giving management teams the option to make smarter and more flexible decisions on funding options even if they are loss-making or pre-revenue”.

“This is a common situation for even high-growth, VC-backed businesses – ranging from video game development, pharma, agri-tech, media and EV ecosystems.Therefore, we are thrilled to provide these vital, flourishing businesses with another avenue for the capital they need, and we are thankful for this investment round – which will allow us to continue this work”.

Adsum was founded in 2020 by Justina Tartilaite and Freddie Digby, both with deep underlying experience in financial markets and team leadership. Ben Rodgers and Shreeya Arora joined them soon afterwards to build-out the technical and product teams respectively.

Justina continued: “It’s natural that businesses spend as they scale, and this early-stage growth is the time when they both benefit from and need reliable and timely cash flow the most. Adsum is providing an essential role in their corporate journey, and moving forwards, we are excited to get to work on new products in order to help even more intrepid founders scale their businesses”.

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