ANNA Money makes two acquisitions to accelerate AI platform for SMEs

ANNA Money, a London-based fintech offering business owners a full suite of financial services, has acquired UK Business Forums (UKBF) and Business Data Group (BDG) to accelerate its ambition to build an AI-powered operating system to help entrepreneurs start, run and grow their business.

UKBF is the long-established community platform supporting over 160,000 small business owners and entrepreneurs across the UK. 

ANNA will continue to invest directly in the UKBF community, bringing its business support tools to members to help small business owners spend less time on admin and more time running their businesses.

BDG is a platform in the UK company formations market and operates eFiling, the partner program and banking comparison page used by formation agents.

By bringing eFiling into ANNA, entrepreneurs who form their companies through BDG’s network will be able to more easily move from forming a company into managing every aspect of it, from bookkeeping to tax and compliance.

ANNA says the two acquisitions mark key milestones in the firm’s wider vision to build a single, AI-powered platform for small businesses at every stage of their journey. 

Rather than relying on disconnected software and specialist advisers for company formation, banking, accounting, tax, payments and administration, the company says entrepreneurs will be able to manage every stage of their business through one intelligent platform that supports them as they scale.

“ANNA’s own success is tied to the success of the businesses it helps get started. That means the fastest way for ANNA to grow is to help the independent formation agents who rely on BDG’s eFiling platform grow too,” says Eduard Panteleev, co-founder and co-CEO at ANNA Money.

“Rather than competing with these agents, ANNA is investing in the technology, automation and tools that strengthen their position in the market, helping them serve their customers better.”