Norwegian AI Startup Watchdog Raises $600K to Catch Costly Invoice Errors
•February 2, 2026
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Why It Matters
The solution addresses a pervasive, costly blind spot in finance, enabling firms to recover lost revenue with minimal IT disruption, and positions Watchdog as a scalable fintech player in the growing AI‑automation market.
Key Takeaways
- •Raised $600K from Askeladden & Co and angel investors.
- •AI tool flags invoice discrepancies without system changes.
- •Pilots saved customers over $400K in invoice errors.
- •Plug‑and‑play integration works with Dynamics, Visma, Tripletex.
- •International expansion planned for 2026.
Pulse Analysis
Invoice errors remain a hidden drain on corporate cash flow, with estimates suggesting that midsize firms lose up to 2% of spend to mismatched pricing or volume discrepancies. As enterprises adopt more complex procurement contracts and multi‑vendor ecosystems, manual reconciliation becomes untenable, prompting a surge in AI‑driven financial automation solutions. Investors are keen on technologies that can plug directly into existing ERP stacks, delivering immediate ROI without costly system overhauls.
Watchdog’s platform differentiates itself by combining natural‑language contract parsing with historical pricing analytics to flag anomalies in real time. The plug‑and‑play architecture pulls invoices from systems such as Microsoft Dynamics, Visma, and Tripletex, delivering alerts within minutes and requiring no IT re‑engineering. Pilot deployments across retail, food production, and aquaculture have already identified over $400,000 in overcharges, validating both the accuracy of the model and the financial upside for early adopters. This rapid validation gives Watchdog a credible foothold against larger, slower‑moving fintech incumbents.
The recent $600,000 raise, backed by seasoned investors including Askeladden & Co and industry insiders from OpenAI, provides the runway to expand the sales organization and refine the AI engine for broader verticals. With an international expansion slated for 2026, Watchdog is poised to capture a growing segment of the global spend‑management market, where AI‑enabled invoice control is becoming a competitive necessity. The funding underscores confidence in the startup’s scalable model and its potential to reshape how finance teams safeguard margins.
Norwegian AI startup Watchdog raises $600K to catch costly invoice errors
Oslo-based AI startup Watchdog has raised $600K to tackle one of finance teams’ most persistent blind spots: incorrect invoicing. The round was backed by venture studio Askeladden & Co, former Celsia CEO and current Sanna CEO Petter Reistad, and a group of experienced angel investors from companies including OpenAI, Encube and Riff. Watchdog has built an AI-powered tool that automatically checks incoming invoices against contract terms and historical pricing, flagging discrepancies without requiring changes to existing accounting systems. The fresh capital will be used to accelerate product development, scale sales efforts and prepare for international expansion in 2026, following successful pilots that have already uncovered more than $400K in invoicing errors for early customers.
Founded in 2025 in Norway by former BCG consultants Benjamin Bjorvatn Øien and Halvor Reiten, Watchdog is an AI startup that develops software for automated invoice control. The company’s product reviews incoming invoices by comparing them with contractual terms and historical pricing data, helping organizations identify discrepancies that may otherwise go unnoticed. The solution integrates with existing accounting and ERP systems without requiring changes to current IT infrastructure. Watchdog works with customers across sectors including retail, food production and aquaculture.
“The idea for Watchdog emerged from our own experience as consultants, combined with conversations with more than 100 CFOs, controllers and procurement professionals,” says Øien, CEO and co-founder of Watchdog.
Øien says that incorrect invoicing is a widespread and costly problem for businesses, and that the effort required to maintain proper control has become excessive.
“The problem is that incoming invoices do not always match agreed pricing and volumes. Few organizations have the capacity to manually review every single invoice. The errors are rarely intentional, but they result in unnecessary and in some cases significant financial losses for invoice recipients,” he says.
Watchdog has developed an AI-based monitoring tool that integrates with companies’ IT and accounting systems. The tool reviews incoming invoices against contractual terms and historical pricing. The system can be implemented in as little as one minute and no more than one hour.
“The solution does not require any changes to a company’s existing IT infrastructure. The AI simply retrieves invoices from the current system, whether it is Microsoft Dynamics, Tripletex, Visma or another platform. It is a plug and play solution,” says Halvor Reiten, CTO and co-founder of Watchdog.
Watchdog has already been tested by 15 pilot clients, including the bakery chain Baker Brun, the aquaculture company ScaleAQ and the jewellery retailer David Andersen.
“For our pilot clients, we have already identified more than USD 400,000 in incorrect invoicing. The amounts involved are often substantial. In the most severe cases we found individual discrepancies in tens of thousands USD,” says Øien.
The company recently raised USD 600,000 to fund further product development and growth. The round was backed by venture studio Askeladden & Co, former Celsia CEO and current Sanna CEO Petter Reistad, as well as several private investors currently working at OpenAI, Encube, and Riff.
“We’re pleased to have brilliant investors supporting the next phase of our venture. With the product now validated, we’re focused on growth. The product is highly scalable, and we plan to expand internationally in 2026” says Øien.
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