
Startup
Helu
Vienna reporting, controlling and budgeting platform for German-speaking SMEs and their advisers, built around a direct DATEV integration and founded by investor Franz Salzmann.
| Founded | 2020, Vienna |
|---|---|
| Founders | Franz Salzmann (CEO) |
| Stage | Series A |
| Total funding | $15m |
| Last round | Series A, $10m (EUR 9.8m), July 2022, led by CommerzVentures with IRIS and Speedinvest |
| Earlier rounds | Seed $5m, 2021 |
| What it does | Pulls accounting data from DATEV and other ledgers into management reports, dashboards, budgets and forecasts, sold to SMEs and to the tax advisers and law firms that report for them |
| Traction | Won the DATEV Marktplatz Newcomer award for piloting the DATEV accounting export; used across the DACH mid-market |
| Pricing | Not published |
| Markets | Austria, Germany, Switzerland |
| Peers | Abacum, Agicap, LucaNet, Corporate Planner, Fathom |
Why it matters
Helu raised $15 million to become the reporting layer on top of DATEV, the accounting system most German SMEs and their advisers actually run. That integration is a moat the US FP&A tools cannot easily copy, though the company has not raised since 2022.
Updated September 2026.
Part of Accountio’s accounting technology coverage.
