Blue J raises US$176 million for AI tax research

Blue J, an AI tax-research firm that BetaKit describes as Toronto-based, said it has raised US$176 million in Series E capital led by JMI Equity, a growth equity investment firm. The company points to growth: it says its annual recurring revenue, the yearly income from customers who subscribe to its software, is up 165% since its previous funding round, the Series D.

The new round values Blue J at more than US$700 million, which the company says is more than C$1 billion. More than 6,500 organizations now use Blue J, including Big Four accounting firms and Fortune 100 companies, the company said.

Blue J will use the money to scale Workflows, its agentic AI, software that carries out tasks itself rather than only answering questions, and to expand in the UK. Chief executive Ben Alarie aims for Workflows to assist with nearly any routine work a tax professional does by the end of next year.

Blue J was co-founded in 2015 by Mr Alarie, Brett Janssen, Anthony Niblett and Albert Yoon. Mr Alarie came up with the idea for the company after being asked to judge an IBM Watson competition at the University of Toronto, the university said.

Sources: Blue J · BetaKit · University of Toronto News