Cortea, a company building an AI quality layer for audit firms, announced it has raised €12 million in seed funding. The round was led by Dawn Capital, with participation from Cherry Ventures, Mosaic Ventures, and angel investors including Larry Bradley, former Global Head of Audit at KPMG.
Along with the funding, Cortea announced the launch of its first Audit Quality Agents, which are designed to help audit firms improve audit quality while increasing capacity across the audit process. The funding will be used to support the development of additional audit agents, deeper integrations with existing audit platforms, and expansion across the UK, Germany, and the United States.
Cortea’s announcement comes as the audit profession faces increasing pressure to improve quality while dealing with capacity constraints, heightened regulatory scrutiny, and more complex reporting requirements. And as AI moves from experimentation into real audit workflows, audit firms are evaluating how to adopt the technology without compromising consistency, professional judgment, and trust.
Founded with the belief that AI can transform how audits are performed only if the technology remains reviewable and defensible, Cortea is focused on helping audit firms implement AI in controlled and traceable ways.
Cortea’s Audit Quality Agents were developed in collaboration with leading audit firms across the UK and Europe. The agents review audit reports, financial statements, disclosure notes, and workpapers before sign-off. They cross-check figures, disclosures, and supporting documentation to identify inconsistencies, missing information, Companies House filing discrepancies, and potential compliance issues in minutes rather than hours.
The agents are purpose-built for the completion and review stages of audits and are designed to work alongside existing audit systems and workflows rather than replace them. Findings are prepared for auditor review, enabling teams to spend more time on professional judgment and higher-value analysis while maintaining control over the audit process.
During the most recent audit season, Cortea’s technology helped deliver more than 4,000 audit reports, identifying issues across every reviewed file and helping auditors save several days of manual review per engagement.
KEY QUOTES:
“The audit profession is about to undergo one of the biggest shifts in its history. AI will transform how audits are executed, but it will also raise the bar for quality, consistency, and professional oversight. Every audit firm is exploring how AI can improve the way audits are performed. The firms that succeed will be those that can combine the efficiency of AI with the rigour and trust that the profession demands. Our mission is simple: help audit firms use AI with confidence.”
Valentin Neumann, co-founder and CEO of Cortea
“In audit and assurance, trust is everything. If AI cannot improve quality, transparency and professional judgement, it has no place in the audit process. Cortea is different because it is built for how audit firms actually operate. Cortea integrates AI into the audit process in a way that is controlled, traceable and practical. That is what the profession needs now: not more AI experiments, but technological innovation that firms can trust.”
Larry Bradley, former Global Head of Audit at KPMG
“Now is the time to change the operating model for audit delivery. The team at Cortea have been determined to build a solution that works with auditors and for auditors. We believe they will be at the forefront of this transformation helping their partners not only to meet demand and scale capacity, but to improve quality at every step. We are delighted to be backing them.”
Dan Chaplin, Partner at Dawn Capital
