Oslo-London Audit Firm Benford Raises €5M Pre-Seed to Operate as Tech-Native Auditor

Oslo-London Audit Startup Benford Raises €5 Million Pre-Seed Round

Benford, a registered audit firm headquartered in Oslo and London, has raised €5 million in pre-seed funding, the company announced on 22 September 2026. The round was led by firstminute capital, with Global Founders Capital and Sondo also participating.

The startup was founded by Mads Bogen Øye, Thibault Mallion and Andreas Rystad, who between them count Palantir, Goldman Sachs and One Peak among their prior employers — though the specific one-to-one mapping of each founder to each institution has not been confirmed in available primary sources. Mallion holds the title of co-founder and co-CEO.

Angel investors participating in the round include Peter ter Maaten of HSO; Arthur Waller and Quentin de Metz of Pennylane; and Alexandre Prot of Qonto. The Spandow family of Amesto also joined as angels. Benford's valuation was not disclosed.

Not a Software Vendor — an Auditor

Benford's strategic positioning distinguishes it from most technology entrants to professional services. Rather than selling software to existing audit firms, the company's stated model is to operate as the auditor itself. Benford is a registered audit firm in Norway, and as is standard for firms operating in that capacity, it is subject to the obligations that attach to practising audit entities under Norwegian law — an editorial inference based on its registered status, not a specific claim made by the company in available sources.

Central to the firm's operations is a proprietary engine called AuditOS, which the company says is already live on client audits.

Co-CEO Thibault Mallion has argued that audit is a sector where client experience has deteriorated year on year even as costs have risen — and that Benford's ambition is not to redefine what an audit is, but to transform how it is delivered.

In Mallion's own words: "Audit is one of the few services where the customer experience has got worse every year while the bill has gone up. We are not changing what an audit is. We are changing how it is delivered."

The Market Opportunity

The professional audit market is a substantial and heavily regulated segment of financial services. Observers have characterised the European audit market as one that has historically seen limited new entrants, though The Fin Desk has not independently sourced a verifiable market report to quantify that claim precisely, and it is offered here as contextual framing rather than established fact.

Benford's pitch is that the sector's underlying workflow — not its legal or professional standards — is ripe for re-engineering through technology. By operating as a licensed firm rather than as a vendor, the company positions itself to capture audit revenue directly, rather than competing for software contracts with incumbents.

Investors and Backers

The participation of angel investors with operating backgrounds at Pennylane and Qonto — European fintech companies active in accounting software and business banking respectively — is notable given Benford's focus on financial audit workflows. Peter ter Maaten of HSO, a technology services business, also joined the angel cohort.

The institutional syndicate of firstminute capital, Global Founders Capital and Sondo spans early-stage European venture, bringing the pre-seed total to €5 million across both institutional and angel tranches.

What to Watch

Benford enters the market with AuditOS already deployed on live client engagements, giving it an early operational track record to point to as it seeks to build credibility within a profession where regulatory standing and client trust are foundational requirements. Its dual Oslo-London base positions it across two of Europe's more active financial and technology ecosystems.

The firm's next milestones — client growth, headcount, and any move toward a seed round — have not been disclosed.

The Fin Desk covers fintech, payments and financial regulation across Europe. This article is based on verified primary and secondary sources; see the research package for sourcing detail.