After payment service providers and insurance brokers, tax advisors are now also to be digitized.

Clients and consultants should be able to access shared data online.

The fintech start-up Helu entered the market with this business idea.

In a first round of financing, the Viennese company raised 5 million euros.

Several well-known names from the Berlin tech scene have joined as investors.

Philipp Krohn

Editor in business, responsible for “People and Business”.

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    Founder Franz Salzmann, who has already been involved in a number of successful start-ups, makes a direct comparison with the insurance industry.

    Insurtechs such as Wefox, Getsafe, Element or Clark have successfully established themselves there with new business models and some of them are now internationally active.

    "A generation change is taking place here, younger tax consultants and customers want to work together more digitally and on a collaborative level and this pressure is increasing enormously on both sides," said Salzmann in an interview.

    So far, data cannot be read out in such a way that they can be processed well together.

    With its own platform, tax consultants and clients should have access to the accounting department in a few minutes. With shared data access, they should be able to work collaboratively and interactively without having to meet physically. Working with this data will also enable more uniform access. "We are working on virtual tagging and commenting functions that make the advisory process as convenient and intuitive as companies are used to from other applications such as project management tools or banking," said Salzmann.

    The financing round should make it possible to build a competent team and improve the technology.

    The offer is aimed at small and medium-sized companies that have to evaluate accounting data on a regular basis.

    "Our aim is to make Helu available to every German tax advisor free of charge in the medium term," said Salzmann.

    So far, the profession is still very traditional, but it will not be able to escape digitization.

    The central position that the data service provider Datev occupies in the German accounting market is to be accompanied in a complementary manner.

    Investors include Wefox founder Fabian Wesemann and Bitpanda founder Eric Demuth.

    There are also representatives from Atlantic Labs, Noah Conference, Personio and other experienced business angels.