Gradient Ventures leads $6m investment in LatAm's tax-technology startup Heru
Heru, an AI-based tax platform that simplifies the tax-filing process and provides intelligent insights for future filings, announced a $6 million seed round led by Gradient Ventures, Google's AI-focused venture fund.
SOMA Capital, GFC, Moving Capital and Mike Shoemaker, Roofstock's Chief Operating Officer and existing investors Flourish Ventures and Magma Partners also joined the round.
Heru leverages AI to automate thousands of rules and streamline the entire tax filing, retention, and reporting process. The company's technology provides customers with better financial planning tools and a holistic view of every financial transaction's potential impact on their taxes. Heru offers both a front-end solution and an embedded integration for companies or enterprises.
As emerging payment methods and technologies become more widely available in Latin America, the region's independent workforce has expanded. In addition to this growth, recent regulations in Mexico require platforms such as UberEats and Rappi to declare tax compliance for earners, which presents a prime opportunity for startups like Heru.
Mateo Jaramillo, CEO and Co-founder, Heru: ''While the integration of embedded financial solutions in industries like banking and payments is not a new concept, Latin America is about to witness a new wave of tax innovation. I'm really excited to be building Heru on the cusp of this technological revolution. We're empowering individuals and businesses with critical financial planning tools so they can stay up to date on evolving regulations and make more informed financial decisions. We believe this technology is fundamental to reducing financial inequality in Latin America.''
Zachary Bratun-Glennon, Partner, Gradient Ventures: ''Latin America's workforce is undergoing a massive transformation, with new digital, freelance and gig opportunities. The opportunity for technology to enable this labor force has been accelerated by recent regulations and emerging payment technologies. Heru is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this opportunity, and we're looking forward to supporting Mateo, Stiven, and their team along the way.''
Heru will use its capital to expand its suite of products and to improve its core tax automation technology both for its end customers and business partners like Uber, Rappi, UberEats, Mercado Envios Extra (Mercado Libre), Cornershop, Beat, amongst others.
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