Why we invested in Neno
Europe’s Back Office Evolution: Doubling Down on Neno’s Seed Round
We are thrilled to have followed on in Neno's seed round, maintaining Motive’s ownership, as Nick and the team enter their next chapter. What began as a pre-seed conviction backed in mid-2025 has, has, in our view, become one of the most compelling early-stage stories we have seen in European fintech.
Neno raised €6.6M in seed funding, led by AlleyCorp, the New York-based early-stage venture fund, with Motive Partners following on pro rata alongside existing investor firstminute capital and a group of executives from Hugging Face, Mollie, Juni, Deel, Miro, Coinbase, PayPal and Navro.
26M European SMEs are stuck choosing between two flawed options. Self-serve accounting software is affordable and requires significant time and expertise that many business owners don't have the bandwidth to learn and still leaves them reliant on an accountant and tax advisor for anything that matters. On the other side, sit roughly 1 million accounting firms across Europe (based on Motive's analysis of Eurostat), priced around compliance rather than value, slow to respond, and running on tech stacks the SME does not own. Neither side was built for the modern SME that needs comprehensive financial support at a price it can afford.
Neno's answer is to build Europe's first full-stack AI financial services company: an agentic general ledger and AI layer that automates the repetitive 80% of back-office financial work (e.g. bookkeeping, reconciliation, VAT filings, payroll) while their own in-house accountants handle the judgment calls that matter. Embedded payments and banking infrastructure, such as local IBAN accounts, cards, AR and AP, sit underneath, meaning the SME gets one platform, one login, one relationship, and finished work - books closed, VAT filed, payroll processed, not another tool demanding their time.
Since his pre-seed, Nick has assembled a strong team drawn from Mollie, Plaid, Bunq, Adyen and the Big Four accounting firms. Launching in the Netherlands in Q1 2026, the company has grown to almost 200 customers, onboarding roughly one new paying SME per day, with logos including SOUS, FeedbackFruits, Klabu, The Cirqle, and YC-backed Airweave and Rally.
Five structural forces are converging simultaneously: an acute accounting talent and succession shortage shrinking supply, rising regulatory complexity increasing SME demand, AI crossing the automation threshold (46% of accountants already use AI daily1), accelerating cloud adoption, and government e-invoicing mandates forcing digital transformation across key European markets including the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Belgium.
The seed proceeds are earmarked to launch Neno Labs and Ambient AI R&D, grow the accounting, tax and go-to-market teams, and expand into additional European markets in 2027.
“We backed Nick at pre-seed because we believed he had the commercial instincts and energy to build a strong team around a longstanding challenge in Europe. Since then, Neno has made meaningful progress, from building out the team and securing early customers to developing its Agentic GL alongside in-house accounting, payroll and tax services. It reflects what we mean by ‘finished work’ in AI-native financial services: using technology to deliver practical outcomes for customers. Doing that requires an understanding of both the technology and the profession, and Neno has brought together experience from Adyen, Mollie, Plaid, Deloitte, KPMG and BDO. That progress gave us the conviction to participate again in the seed round,” said Hugo Bongers, Partner, Venture at Motive Partners.
1. Source: Accounting AI Statistics 2026
Disclaimer
This communication reflects the views of the Motive investment team as of the date hereof and is subject to change without notice. Motive or its affiliates may hold positions in the securities of companies discussed herein. References to Neno as a portfolio company of Motive are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of Neno's products or services. Product capability descriptions reflect Motive's understanding of Neno's intended functionality and may not reflect current or future capabilities; Neno makes no representations regarding those capabilities. Metrics referenced regarding Neno's customer base and growth are based on company-reported data and have not been independently verified by Motive. This communication contains forward-looking statements based on Motive's current expectations and assumptions; actual results may differ materially. Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy interests in any Motive managed investment vehicle.