Thomson Reuters acquires Materia – a specialist in agentic AI for the tax, audit and accounting profession

TORONTO, October 22, 2024 – Thomson Reuters Corporation (“Thomson Reuters”) (TSX/NYSE: TRI), a global content and technology company, today announced it has acquired Materia, a US-based startup that specializes in the development of an agentic AI assistant for the tax, audit and accounting profession. This transaction, which is complementary to Thomson Reuters AI roadmap, accelerates Thomson Reuters vision for the provision of generative AI tools to the professions it serves.

Founded in 2022, Materia is purpose built for tax, audit and accounting use cases. Its agentic AI assistant automates and augments research and workflows helping accountants to improve efficiency, effectiveness and the value they add to their clients.

“Our vision is to provide each professional we serve with a Gen AI assistant. Materia will further accelerate this vision for our tax, audit and accounting customers,” said David Wong, Chief Product Officer, Thomson Reuters.  “Once fully integrated, Materia will transform work and unify the entire customer experience with applications across our tax, audit, and accounting portfolio. We are excited by the potential of combining Materia with Thomson Reuters content, know-how, and solutions.”

“Materia is defining the future for how agentic AI can enhance the accounting profession. Our vision is to eliminate low-value, tedious tasks, and in doing so, both increase quality, and free up accounting teams to focus on higher value advisory work for their clients, said Kevin Merlini, CEO of Materia.  “We are excited to join Thomson Reuters on this exciting journey toward our shared vision. By combining, we will be able to move more quickly toward this objective and will unlock new opportunities to deliver highly-requested solutions for our customers.“

Thomson Reuters Ventures, an early investor in Materia, led the effort to launch a proof-of-concept initiative that allowed select Checkpoint Edge users to engage with certain Checkpoint content through Materia’s AI assistant.  The promising initial results from this work provides confidence that Thomson Reuters and Materia together can best leverage generative AI to deliver value for Thomson Reuters tax, audit and accounting customers.

Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters (TSX/NYSE: TRI) informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. The company serves professionals across tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Thomson Reuters’ products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s leading provider of trusted journalism and news. For more information, visit tr.com.

About Materia

Materia is the first comprehensive generative AI platform built specifically for public accounting firms. Materia is built on a proprietary library of authoritative accounting content, integrated with firm knowledge, and key industry software. The platform offers a suite of pre-built capabilities to improve efficiency and quality for all levels of accounting staff across a variety of workflows while keeping security and accuracy central to its platform.

Special note regarding forward-looking statements, material risks and material assumptions

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking, including but not limited to the expected strategic benefits of the proposed transaction. The words “expect”, “believe” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. While the company believes that it has a reasonable basis for making forward-looking statements in this news release, they are not a guarantee of future performance or outcomes and there is no assurance that any of the other events described in any forward-looking statement will materialize. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Many of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions are beyond our company’s control and the effects of them can be difficult to predict. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements which reflect expectations only as of the date of this news release. Except as may be required by applicable law, Thomson Reuters disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

CONTACTS

Media
Dave Moran
Corporate Communications
1 647 2853815
Dave.moran@tr.com

Investors
Gary E. Bisbee, CFA
Head of Investor Relations
+1 646 540 3249
gary.bisbee@tr.com