Materia

Market position

Materia described itself as the first comprehensive generative AI platform built specifically for public accounting firms. Thomson Reuters characterized the acquisition as complementary to its AI roadmap and as accelerating its goal of providing a generative AI assistant to each profession it serves.

Purpose-built for tax, audit and accounting use cases rather than general-purpose AI; grounded in a proprietary library of authoritative accounting content combined with a firm's own knowledge; agentic behavior aimed at executing substantive tasks with citations rather than only surfacing suggestions.

Technology

The platform used generative and agentic AI. It consolidated firm internal knowledge into a secure Knowledge Hub that acted as an enterprise search layer across engagement data silos, and paired that with an AI Assistant and a Document Analysis Workspace to produce answers grounded in proprietary firm knowledge and authoritative accounting standards. Materia maintained a proprietary library of authoritative accounting content and integrated with firm knowledge and industry software. In the Thomson Reuters CoCounsel implementation, the system performs research with citations against sources including Checkpoint, the Internal Revenue Code, IRS, FASB, GASB, AICPA and IFRS regulatory materials, Checkpoint Catalyst, PPC Guides and government web sources, and supports document analysis and repeatable workflow templates.

Go-to-market

Materia's route to market included a proof-of-concept with Thomson Reuters Ventures that exposed selected Checkpoint Edge users to Materia's AI assistant through Checkpoint content, a relationship that preceded the acquisition. Post-acquisition, the product is marketed by Thomson Reuters via demo requests, published plans, a firm-level ROI calculator and direct sales contact.

Public accounting firms and tax, audit and accounting professionals, spanning staff, seniors, managers and partners.

Geography

Reported as US-based, with New York cited as its base in press coverage.

History

Founded in 2022, Materia remained in stealth until June 2024, when it emerged publicly with over $6.3 million in funding led by Spark Capital and including Thomson Reuters Ventures among its backers. Thomson Reuters Ventures, an early investor, led a proof-of-concept initiative that gave selected Checkpoint Edge users access to certain Checkpoint content through Materia's AI assistant. On October 22, 2024, Thomson Reuters announced it had acquired Materia for undisclosed terms; CEO Kevin Merlini was to report to Thomson Reuters Chief Product Officer David Wong, with Materia's team continuing to report to Merlini.

Risks & controversies

Multiple unrelated organizations share the Materia name, including a Pasadena, California resin and catalyst manufacturer founded in 1998/1999 by Nobel laureate Robert Grubbs that was acquired by ExxonMobil Chemical Company in December 2021; those entities are distinct from the AI company and should not be conflated. Thomson Reuters' chief product officer publicly noted that enterprise AI was undergoing a "reality check" as corporate buyers became more discerning.