Smartfin backs Auditstage with €750,000 to drive AI innovation in audit

Brussels – May 27, 2025

Smartfin, European venture and growth capital investor, has announced a €750,000 pre-seed investment in Auditstage, a Belgian AuditTech company founded in 2024 by certified auditor Natalia Khamraeva. The capital injection will support the continued development of Auditstage’s AI-powered audit platform and the recruitment of a founding team, with a view to a broader market rollout in 2026.

Auditstage was created to address the growing frustration with fragmented tools and outdated workflows in external audits. With over a decade of experience at Big4 audit firms, Khamraeva saw first-hand how time-consuming and error-prone the current audit process can be. Her response: a secure, intelligent collaboration platform that brings everything together in one place.

“Auditors today rely on a patchwork of tools and communication channels to get the job done,” says Natalia Khamraeva. “Auditstage streamlines that process by integrating everything into one secure, collaborative environment that is AI native and that uses intelligent automation for tasks nobody likes.”

Auditstage’s proprietary AI agents are designed to take over the manual, repetitive work that slows down audit teams – from confirmations to data preparation – allowing auditors and finance professionals to focus on what really counts: delivering high-quality, insight-driven financial reporting.

Although the product is still in pilot phase, a select group of Belgian audit firms is already testing the platform ahead of its public launch later this year.

“We’re seeing the wave of automation that first transformed accounting now ripple into the audit world, a high-stakes industry with real pain points. With Natalia’s deep audit expertise and bold product vision, we see tremendous potential for disruption in the AuditTech space.” says Jürgen Ingels, Founding Partner at Smartfin.

With this partnership, Smartfin joins Auditstage not only as an investor but as a strategic partner. Jürgen Ingels will join the board of directors to support the company’s next phase of growth, helping to shape the go-to-market strategy and long-term vision.

Auditstage will use the funding to accelerate development of its core platform, strengthen its founding team, and prepare for broader commercial rollout in 2026. The long-term goal: to become the global go-to audit solution in a global market still reliant on fragmented, outdated systems.

Auditstage is a Belgian technology company founded in 2024 by Natalia Khamraeva. It is developing an AI-powered collaboration platform that helps audit firms and their clients complete financial audits faster, smarter, and with greater transparency. Auditstage is proud to be a female-led pioneer in the emerging AuditTech sector. Learn more at www.auditstage.com.

Smartfin is a European venture and growth capital investor, managing over €600 million in assets and investing in early and growth stage B2B technology companies. Smartfin has an open-ended investment philosophy and invests throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. Smartfin’s team combines a successful venture capital and private equity investment track-record with extensive operational experience in setting up, building, and managing leading international technology companies which differentiates us as an experienced and entrepreneurial, truly hands-on and value-added partner to our portfolio companies. Learn more at www.smartfinvc.com.