Avalara, the agentic tax and compliance software provider, has announced a USD $500 million equity investment led by BlackRock’s Private Financing Solutions. The round underscores investor confidence in the company’s use of agentic AI to automate complex tax and compliance processes.
Vista Equity Partners, which first invested in Avalara in 2022, will remain the company’s majority shareholder. According to the company, all proceeds from the transaction will be used to purchase shares from existing shareholders.
“Avalara’s mission is to be part of every transaction in the world,” said Scott McFarlane, CEO and Co-Founder of Avalara. “With support from partners like Vista, we’ve evolved from a single-product innovator to a trusted, comprehensive provider of tax and compliance solutions embedded in our customers’ financial systems through a powerful partner ecosystem. We’re proud to welcome BlackRock as an investor as we work to advance our position as a trusted provider of innovative tax and compliance software.”
Advancing “Agentic” AI for Compliance
Avalara, which pioneered cloud-based tax automation, says it is now expanding that foundation through an “agentic” AI operating model. The company’s Avalara Agentic Tax and Compliance™ platform integrates multiple AI technologies — including enterprise and domain-specific language models, intelligent AI agents, and extensive compliance content — to automate end-to-end tax and reporting processes.
The platform runs on a multi-cloud infrastructure designed for resilience and auditability. According to Avalara, each AI agent includes embedded checkpoints for human review and approval, ensuring that automation is transparent and governed.
“Avalara’s Agentic Tax and Compliance platform is built on a core principle: automation should never mean loss of control,” the company said in its announcement. “Every Avalara AI agent includes embedded checkpoints for human review and approval, giving enterprises full command and audit-ready visibility across every compliance process, from tax filings to registrations.”
Growing Investor Confidence in Compliance Tech
The investment highlights the growing attention major investors are paying to AI-driven compliance solutions as governments worldwide push for real-time tax and reporting mandates.