The team behind Denmark’s challenger banking success is turning its attention to another financial industry that has long relied on manual processes. Repodo, a new AI audit startup founded by Lunar’s former leadership team, has secured €8.2 million in pre seed funding as it prepares to rethink how businesses and auditors handle financial audits.
From Challenger Banking to Audit
Repodo was founded by three former Lunar executives, Ken Villum Klausen, Peter Andreasen and Joachim Strøjer Hansen, together with professional auditor Anders Houmann.
Klausen previously served as Lunar’s chief executive, while Andreasen was the company’s chief financial officer and Hansen its chief product officer. The trio helped build Lunar into one of Denmark’s leading challenger banks before leaving their executive positions.
Their experience in financial services is now being applied to a different part of the financial ecosystem. Repodo is launching initially in Denmark with a focus on making audits faster and less dependent on repetitive administrative work.
The startup has attracted €8.2 million in pre seed financing, led by Hedosophia and Seed Capital, both of which were also early backers of Lunar. A group of additional prominent investors participated in the round.
Rebuilding the Audit Workflow
Repodo is targeting the traditional audit process, where businesses and professional auditors can spend significant amounts of time collecting information, reconciling financial data and preparing documentation.
The company believes artificial intelligence can take over much of this repetitive work while leaving professional judgement firmly in the hands of qualified auditors.
Its technology has been designed around AI from the beginning and is intended to automate several stages of an audit. These include collecting financial data, carrying out reconciliations, analysing transactions and preparing documentation.
Rather than replacing auditors, Repodo aims to change how their time is spent. The company says auditors will continue to be responsible for professional judgement, oversight and final sign off.
More Time for Human Expertise
For Repodo, the opportunity lies in shifting auditors away from processing large quantities of routine information and towards the areas where their expertise is most valuable.
Ken Villum Klausen, co founder of Repodo, said AI provides an opportunity to redesign the audit operating model rather than simply adding automation to existing processes.
The company argues that auditors should spend more time assessing risk, investigating unusual findings and applying professional judgement, while technology handles repetitive processing in the background.
This approach is designed to create what Repodo describes as a faster, lower friction and more affordable audit experience for businesses.
Targeting Europe’s SMEs
Repodo will initially concentrate on small and medium sized businesses, a segment that represents a significant part of the European economy and requires regular financial compliance and reporting.
The startup plans to expand beyond Denmark into other European markets as its platform develops.
Repodo estimates that the global audit market is worth around €80 billion, giving the company a substantial opportunity if it can successfully apply AI to traditionally labour intensive audit workflows.
A New Financial Services Platform
The launch represents a new chapter for Lunar’s former founders, who previously focused on transforming consumer and business banking through digital technology.
With Repodo, their ambition is to apply the same technology driven approach to professional financial services. Instead of eliminating auditors from the process, the startup is betting that AI can make them significantly more productive.
The €8.2 million funding will provide Repodo with the resources to establish its Danish operations, develop its AI powered audit platform and prepare for expansion across Europe.