Bench Shuts Down, Leaving Thousands of Businesses Without Access to Accounting and Tax Documents

Bench, a Canadian-based accounting startup that provided software-as-a-service (SaaS) for small and medium-sized businesses, has unexpectedly shut down, as indicated by a notice posted on its website. The company announced that, effective December 27, 2024, the Bench platform will no longer be available.The company expressed regret about the sudden closure, acknowledging that it may cause disruption for its customers.

Bench has pledged to assist customers during the transition, helping them navigate the shift and manage their accounting needs moving forward. This abrupt shutdown has raised questions regarding the company's financial stability and its ability to maintain its services, especially given the important role Bench played in providing accessible accounting solutions to businesses.The news is a significant loss for small and medium-sized businesses that relied on Bench for streamlined, cloud-based accounting and financial management. It remains to be seen how the market will react to this gap, and whether other companies will step in to fill the void left by Bench's closure.

The sudden shutdown of Bench has left many businesses in a difficult position, as the company's entire website is currently offline except for the brief notice announcing the closure. This has left thousands of businesses without access to critical accounting tools and services. Just hours before the shutdown, Bench had boasted of serving more than 35,000 U.S. customers, according to a snapshot archived by the Internet Archive.Bench had raised a significant $113 million in funding from prominent investors such as Shopify and Bain Capital Ventures. The company's platform was designed to help small and medium-sized businesses manage their bookkeeping, tax reporting, and financial documents.

With its sudden closure, these businesses are now faced with the challenge of finding alternative accounting solutions at a time when they may need them most.The company’s abrupt exit has raised questions about its financial health and the sustainability of its business model. Despite the high-profile backing and initial success, Bench's inability to weather the challenges of the current market leaves many wondering what led to its collapse and how businesses affected by the shutdown will transition their accounting operations in the short term.Conrad Wadowski, CEO of Kick, shared with TechCrunch that the startup is moving quickly to support many of Bench's customers, offering bookkeeping services to help them transition.

Bench, founded in 2012, once employed over 600 people and was supported by notable investors like Sage, Contour Venture Partners, and Altos Ventures. It also participated in the TechStars accelerator program. The company raised $60 million in a Series C funding round in 2021, but its trajectory took a sharp turn afterward, with co-founder and CEO Ian Crosby departing shortly thereafter.In a LinkedIn post on the day of the shutdown, Crosby expressed sadness over the company’s closure. He attributed the downfall to being replaced by unnamed board members who brought in a “new professional CEO” in an effort to shift the company’s direction. Crosby criticized the decision, suggesting that replacing founders rarely works in the long run and hoped the collapse of Bench would serve as a cautionary tale for venture capitalists who believe they can improve a company by ousting its founders.