AI Accounting Platform ANNA Money Raises £10m From Flashpoint for MTD Expansion

London-based fintech ANNA Money has closed a £10 million growth debt deal with Flashpoint as the AI accounting platform prepares for a surge in demand driven by upcoming UK tax digitization rules. The funding arrives as 864,000 self-employed individuals and landlords face new compliance requirements under Making Tax Digital regulations launching in April 2026.

The capital injection will enable ANNA Money to scale its technology infrastructure and expand product features ahead of the regulatory deadline. The company has reached £30 million in annual recurring revenue and serves more than 50,000 active UK small businesses through its automated bookkeeping and tax filing platform.

“This funding gives us the firepower to scale at exactly the right moment,” said Eduard Panteleev, co-founder and co-CEO of ANNA Money. “As MTD for Self Assessment comes into force for hundreds of thousands of self-employed people and landlords next year, demand for smart, automated accounting is accelerating fast.”

Flashpoint, an international technology investment firm managing approximately $600 million in assets, focuses on growth-stage companies from Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. The firm typically backs software and financial technology businesses with proven revenue models and expansion potential.

Denis Mosolov, managing partner at Flashpoint Growth Debt, said the investment reflects confidence in ANNA Money’s market position. “ANNA Money is building exactly the kind of category-defining platform we look to support, one that combines strong fundamentals, clear product-market fit and the ability to scale efficiently through technology,” Mosolov said.

The Making Tax Digital initiative mandates that sole traders and landlords with annual income exceeding £50,000 must maintain digital records and file quarterly updates to HMRC starting April 2026. The income threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028, eventually bringing 2.9 million taxpayers into the digital reporting framework.

The regulatory shift represents a substantial market opportunity for AI accounting providers. Traditional paper-based record keeping and annual tax return filing will give way to software-driven processes that automatically track income, categorize expenses and calculate tax obligations in real time. Businesses must submit updates within one month of each quarter’s end, with a final annual declaration due by January 31.

ANNA Money has positioned itself to capture this transition by embedding artificial intelligence throughout its platform. The technology processes natural language commands, scans receipts, matches transactions to categories and generates tax calculations without manual intervention. Panteleev highlighted the efficiency gains enabled by automation. “ANNA’s AI-driven systems mean a single human accountant can work across up to 12,000 businesses. The technology does the rest,” he said.

The company was founded in 2017 by Panteleev and co-CEO Boris Diakonov, both banking industry veterans who previously launched financial services ventures in Russia. ANNA Money operates from offices in Cardiff and London and holds regulatory authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority, though it is not a bank and does not provide FSCS deposit protection.

ANNA Money’s business model combines a business current account with integrated tools for invoicing, payroll, bookkeeping and tax compliance. The platform uses tiered pricing based on transaction volumes and feature usage. The company became fully founder-owned in 2022 following a management buyout that gave Panteleev and Diakonov complete control.

The market for AI accounting solutions has expanded rapidly as small businesses seek alternatives to traditional bookkeeping services and legacy software packages. The technology promises to reduce administrative burden while improving accuracy and providing real-time financial visibility. Competition in the sector includes established players like Xero and QuickBooks alongside newer fintech challengers.

HMRC has announced a soft landing approach for businesses entering the Making Tax Digital system in April 2026. The tax authority will not apply penalty points for late submission of the first four quarterly updates, giving businesses time to adapt to the new requirements. However, awareness of the changes remains low among affected taxpayers, with industry surveys showing confusion about obligations and deadlines.

The Making Tax Digital program follows the successful rollout of similar rules for VAT-registered businesses in 2019. HMRC estimates the initiative will reduce errors in tax reporting while cutting compliance costs for businesses over time. The system aims to provide taxpayers with clearer visibility into their tax position throughout the year rather than discovering obligations at annual filing time.

For ANNA Money, the Flashpoint investment provides capital to build out infrastructure and hire staff as user numbers grow. The company previously raised £27 million in a funding round during 2023. The latest deal positions the firm to handle increased transaction volumes and expand its product suite as the regulatory deadline approaches.

The shift to digital tax reporting creates urgency among small business owners to adopt compliant software solutions. ANNA Money and competitors are racing to onboard customers ahead of April 2026, when the first wave of businesses must begin quarterly digital submissions. The company’s emphasis on AI accounting automation aims to differentiate its offering in a crowded market where ease of use and time savings are key selling points.

Industry observers expect consolidation in the small business banking and accounting software sector as regulatory changes force businesses to digitize operations. Platforms that combine banking, payments, bookkeeping and tax filing in a single interface may gain advantage over point solutions that address individual functions. ANNA Money’s integrated approach reflects this strategy of becoming a one-stop platform for small business financial management.

The April 2026 deadline represents the first phase of a multi-year transition that will eventually require most self-employed individuals to use digital tools for tax compliance. For AI accounting providers, the regulatory mandate creates a captive market of businesses that must adopt new software regardless of their previous preferences. How effectively platforms like ANNA Money can convert this forced migration into long-term customer relationships will determine winners in the evolving landscape of small business finance.