Sumit Vishwakarma31 Oct 2026
18:33IST
New Update
Inkle, an AI-powered CPA and bookkeeping firm for US companies that builds its technology in Bengaluru, has acquired the bookkeeping division of Finally, a Miami-based financial operations platform for small businesses that was wound down in September.
Thetransactionwascompletedasanall-cashassetpurchase.
Accordingtoanotice issued by Finally,Backoffice.co,Inc.,thecompanythatoperatedFinally,enteredanAssignmentfortheBenefitofCreditorson8September2026andisbeingwounddown.ItsaffairsarenowbeinghandledbyPFSFinallyLiquidationLLC,anentitymanagedbyrestructuringfirmProvince.
Inkletook overFinally’sbookkeepingcustomers,team,intellectualpropertyanddataon9September.However,claims,outstandingbalancesandFinally’sotherproductsremainwiththeestate.
What Inkle gets
The deal brings about 100 Finally employees in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Miami, Boca Raton and New York into Inkle. They join Inkle’s 60-member team in Bengaluru of engineers, product designers, tax professionals and bookkeepers, taking the company to around 160 people across four countries.
Inkle said the combined teams allow it to deliver services around the clock across the Americas and Asia.
Finally’s bookkeeping clients will keep working with the same teams, now on Inkle’s platform. Inkle told those customers that their pricing would stay the same and that the main visible change would be the company name on their card statements, which moves from Backoffice.co, Inc. to Inkle, Inc.
The acquisition also changes Inkle’s customer mix. Its clients so far have mainly been venture-backed startups. Finally’s customers are largely non-tech small businesses such as owner-operators, professional services firms, contractors, clinics and restaurants.
“Ranvir and I are delighted to announce Inkle’s first acquisition,” said Anand Krishna, co-founder and CEO of Inkle. “Inkle is an American company that serves American small businesses, and it’s built in Bengaluru. That combination is our edge: U.S. CPAs who own the outcome, and an engineering team in India building the software and AI that let them serve far more businesses, far better, than a traditional firm.”
“We’re building the AI-powered Big Four, and this acquisition helps us take that to the businesses that make up most of the American economy,” he added.
From $200 million to a wind-down
Finally, earlier called Back Office, was led by CEO Felix Rodriguez. It offered small businesses a single platform for bookkeeping, payroll, bill payments and expense tracking, along with a corporate card.
The company raised $95 million in a Series A round of equity and debt in March 2022, led by PeakSpan Capital with Active Capital, 500 FinTech and GTMfund participating. It said at the <a href="https://bitcomme.com/tips-for-<a href="https://bitcomme.com/tips-for-time-management-in-college-2/” title=”Tips for time management in college”>time-management-in-college-3/” title=”Tips for time management in college”>time that more than 1,000 small businesses used its platform.
It raised $10 million in February 2024, and in September 2024 announced $200 million made up of $50 million in Series B equity led by PeakSpan Capital and a $150 million credit facility from Encina.
Inkle, by comparison, says it reached profitability on $1.5 million in pre-seed funding from Picus Capital, Saison Capital and Force Ventures, raised about three years ago. The company said several far better-funded players in its category have exited the market.
How Inkle works
Inkle was founded in 2022 by Krishna, who leads the company from San Francisco, and CTO Ranvir Singh, who leads technology from Bengaluru. It is incorporated in Delaware and pairs a US-licensed CPA practice with product, engineering and AI built in India.
The Bengaluru team builds Inkle Books, the company’s general ledger, its tax and compliance platform, and the AI that handles much of the routine work. Inkle offers its software free and charges only for AI-backed bookkeeping, tax and compliance services, delivered on Inkle Books or on QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho Books and Mercury Books.
Because its engineers sit alongside the accountants who use the software, Inkle said issues raised by the delivery team are often fixed within a day. It described moving Finally’s team onto the platform as the largest test of that model so far.
In its announcement, Inkle claimed the acquisition places it among the top 500 US CPA firms by revenue and that it operates at double the margin of traditional accounting firms.
The Indian founder connection
Inkle helps hundreds of companies incorporate in the US every year, many of them started by Indian founders setting up Delaware C-Corps to raise capital and sell to American customers. It then manages their US tax and compliance, from federal returns and Delaware franchise tax to cross-border filings such as Form 5472 and FBAR.
It is the cross-border compliance partner for Stripe Atlas for Indian founders. Inkle counts startups such as Emergent, Writesonic and Mailmodo among its customers and claims that 5% of Y Combinator companies use its services.
The startup has pitched the deal against a shortage of accountants in the US. According to the AICPA’s 2025 Trends report, 55,152 accounting degrees were awarded in the 2023-24 academic year, down 6.6% from the year before, with master’s degrees falling about 15%.
The AICPA release also cited National Student Clearinghouse Research Center data showing accounting enrolment grew 12% year-on-year for two consecutive semesters in the 2024-25 school year.
