Why We Invested in Sumary

Automating Financial Workflows for European SMBs

Accounting is required for every business, yet it’s still painfully manual. Europe’s 25 million SMBs spend close to €100 billion each year on accounting, most of it on repetitive work that software could do better.

European accounting software is a house of cards about to fall. For decades, local giants like Visma, Sage, and Cegid have dominated their home markets, protected by complex tax rules and national standards. That moat is disappearing.

Two forces are reshaping the landscape: AI and regulation. The EU’s VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) will make digital invoicing and reporting mandatory by 2030, forcing millions of companies to modernize. At the same time, AI can now automate most bookkeeping and reconciliation tasks, and adapt to local accounting and taxation rules and logic. Together, they’ve opened a rare window for new entrants.

Copenhagen-based Sumary is building an AI-native accounting platform for European SMBs—software that automates bookkeeping, reconciliations, and VAT filings, while also flagging anomalies, and answering finance questions in plain language. It starts as an AI layer on top of existing ledgers and expands into a full financial OS.

"It’s been, what, 15 years since anyone made B2B enterprise SaaS feel this exciting. There's something special happening at Sumary. A brilliant team using cutting edge technology to address a stale and underserved space. They're incredibly smart, versatile, and kind to boot - and now they’re ready to show the world what the new bar for modern B2B SaaS looks like." - Morten Primdahl, Co-founder of Zendesk and angel investor in Sumary.

We Have Tracked the Founders for Years, Waiting for a Moment to Invest

Pascar Sivam, Sumary’s CEO, is a former McKinsey consultant and repeat founder. At his last company, Blazar, he scaled revenue past €50 million and saw firsthand how fragmented and manual European accounting remains. Colleagues call him “a rare mix of strategy and execution,” known for moving fast, making sharp decisions, and attracting top talent. 

Oh Sara Rywe, Managing Partner at byFounders

Lucas Rantzau, Sumary’s CPTO, is a self-taught engineer, indie hacker, and former founder who sold his previous company, Stori. He built Sumary’s first AI-powered prototype in just 2.5 months, iterating directly with early customers. Lucas combines deep technical skill with a designer’s instinct for usability, turning messy workflows into clean, automated logic.

“Being an old-timer in the automated accounting space, I can say it’s been a long time since a startup has genuinely excited me this much. Sumary is going in, head on, addressing real, unserved pains in the market by applying state-of-the-art tech in a meaningful way, not just chasing the AI hype. Their technical team, led by Lucas, is incredibly sharp and fast, which is exactly what allows Sumary to take big leaps in a slow-moving industry. Watch out Visma, Sage, et al., Sumary is gunning for your market.” - Christian Rasmussen, Co-founder of Roger.ai/Corpay and angel investor in Sumary.

They’ve also brought in Frederik, Pascar’s former right hand at Blazar, as Chief of Staff, and Bastian, former CFO at Grød, McKinsey alum, and ex–political spin doctor, as Chief of Bookkeeping, leading onboarding and customer success.

Together, the team blends commercial execution, technical velocity, and accounting know-how — exactly what it takes to rebuild Europe’s financial software stack.

From AI Layer to Intelligent Ledger

Sumary’s wedge is simple: start as an AI layer on top of existing tools like Visma’s e-conomic, where SMBs already keep their books. Their platform connects to existing accounting ledgers, then automates what accountants do manually: matching transactions, reconciling accounts, flagging VAT errors, and preparing month-end close. 

Because it works on top of existing systems, adoption is effortless. Sumary fits into current workflows, delivers value immediately, and learns from every transaction — quietly removing more of the manual work each month.

Accounting is a two-sided market: SMBs use what their accountants use. In a fragmented industry built on trust, scaling through accountants is faster and cheaper than winning SMBs one by one.

In the past 30 days, they’ve already partnered with some of the best firms in the industry (Baker Tilly, Deloitte, Baltic Assist) and incredible finance teams (Scandinavian Biolabs, Spaak).

Long term, Sumary aims to move from overlay to ownership — building the pan-European AI-native ledger that unifies, rather than fragments, national systems. Where incumbents patch legacy stacks, Sumary is writing a new one — built for automation, compliance, and scale from day one.

The Future of SMB Accounting

Sumary’s vision is simple: make accounting invisible. Finance workflows should run automatically, in real time, across borders. ViDA and e-invoicing mandates will accelerate adoption, and AI will make it effortless.

“Yes, it’s a crowded space, but the upside is enormous. We’re watching a €5 billion category expand toward €50 billion, and I genuinely believe Pascar and Lucas have what it takes to capture it. Winning here comes down to ruthless execution, smart distribution, and sharp product decisions. They move fast, think clearly, and execute with strategic precision. In a market that rewards speed and conviction, they’re exactly the kind of founders who can build one of the category-defining companies in Europe” — Casper Bjarnason, byFounders

We’re proud to lead Sumary’s $4.2 million pre-seed round alongside Partech (investors in Pennylane), and bringing on board incredible angels such as Christian Rasmussen (Roger.ai co-founder), Morten Primdahl (Zendesk co-founder), Bjarke Klinge Staun and Oliver Sjöstedt (Tenity).

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