After a surprise shutdown that shocked customers, Vancouver, B.C.-based startup Bench Accounting will be acquired by Employer.com.
The companies made the announcement Monday morning on their websites. “Your service will continue seamlessly with the platform you’ve always trusted,” reads a message on Bench’s homepage.
TechCrunch reported that Bench customers will be able to “port their data or keep their service under new ownership.”
Employer.com is based in San Francisco and offers workforce management software for payroll, compliance, and more.
Jesse Tinsley, a Bay Area entrepreneur focused on HR tech, said he acquired the Employer.com domain last month. Tinsley also runs Recruiter.com, which is publicly traded, and BountyJobs.
Employer.com put out a press release last month noting that Recruiter.com Ventures was consolidating its portfolio of brands under Employer.com. The company did not appear to offer accounting services prior to its planned acquisition of Bench.
Bench announced Friday that it was abruptly closing.
The company, which described itself in September as North America’s “largest bookkeeping service for small businesses,” raised more than $100 million since launching in 2012, including a $60 million round in 2021. It employed more than 650 people at the time.
The shutdown sparked backlash from customers who were left scrambling just before the year wraps up.
Raman Morris, an entrepreneur in Seattle who is launching a new preschool business, said she signed up for Bench two weeks ago and made advance payments that extend through 2025.
“I don’t know how many customers they did this with and just ran off with their money,” she told GeekWire.
Matt Palackdharry, founder of Kinetic Talents, said he also just signed up for Bench. “We didn’t even complete onboarding,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “You’re just stealing money from small businesses with how you are handling your shutdown.”
In a statement on its website Friday, Bench suggested customers move to Kick, another accounting software provider, which created an “exclusive offer to handle your ongoing needs.”
Bench employees wrote on LinkedIn that they were laid off. But TechCrunch reported Monday that the company is now “calling its employees back to work to ensure continuity.”
Bench was led by Jean-Philippe Durrios, who was named CEO in 2022. Durrios’ LinkedIn profile notes that he stepped down from the company in November.
Bench collected bookkeeping-related data and used a combination of technology and its own bookkeepers to do the manual work traditionally required of business owners and contractors.
Ian Crosby, the company’s co-founder and former longtime CEO who left in December 2021, revealed details about his departure in a LinkedIn post on Friday, saying he disagreed with the board over strategy.
