Bench Accounting (branded as "Bench") is a fintech company that uses proprietary software to automate bookkeeping and provide financials for small business owners. Bench was founded in 2012 by Ian Crosby, along with Jordan Menashy, Adam Saint, and Pavel Rodionov. The company provides subscription access to cloud-based software in combination with in-house bookkeepers. Bench has raised $53M in funding to date and currently employs around 550 people out of its Vancouver headquarters.

History

In November 2010, Ian Crosby and Jordan Menashy co-founded 10Sheet Services, Inc., after identifying the need for an online bookkeeping solution for small business owners. Adam Saint and Pavel Rodionov joined Crosby and Menashy as co-founders in 2012. They were accepted into the

startup accelerator Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. While traditional business incubators are often g ...

program Techstars NYC in 2012 and by July 2013, they had raised $2 million in seed capital and settled on the official name, Bench.

Funding

Bench launched their product to the general public in 2013 after raising a $2 million

seed round Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' su ...

, followed by $7 million in

Series A A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exchan ...

funding led by Altos Ventures, with Contour Venture Partners participating. In January 2014, Bench Accounting raised $1 Million from VCs and

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owners ...

s. In 2016, they raised $16 million in Series B funding, led by Bain Capital Investments, with Altos Ventures, and Contour Venture Partners participating. In 2018, Bench secured $18 million in a B-1 funding round led by iNovia Capital with participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Altos Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank.

Product

Features and Integrations

Bench is available on desktop and iOS mobile app. Bench’s core product is online bookkeeping software paired with in-house bookkeepers. Services include historical and monthly bookkeeping, cash flow and expense tracking, and financial reporting. Bench Bookkeeping also integrates with several other third-party apps including Stripe, Square, and PayPal. In June 2019, Bench launched a new cash flow management tool called Pulse. As of August 2019, Bench announced BenchTax in partnership with Taxfyle in order to provide tax preparation and filing for clients. As of August 2020, Bench is not yet BBB accredited.

Awards and recognition

Forbes 30 Under 30

2018 Deloitte Fast 50

2016 Fintech Five

Rated 3.2/5 stars on Apple App Store

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official siteBench App in Apple App Store
Accounting firms of Canada Accounting software Financial software companies Companies based in Vancouver