bench A VC-backed accounting firm has left after thousands of clients locked their accounts. It suddenly closed last week.TechCrunch will buy Employer.com for an undisclosed price in a last-minute deal.
Employer.com, a San Francisco-based HR technology company, focuses on payroll and onboarding, as opposed to Bench, which specializes in accounting and tax. Matt Charney, chief marketing officer of Employer.com, told TechCrunch that the company will reactivate Bench's platform and provide instructions for users to log in and retrieve their data.
Charney told TechCrunch that users will be given the option to port their data or keep their service under new ownership. The Bench's previous recommendation to extend six months with the Internal Revenue Service if clients decide to stay on to find a new accountant; Verified by Employer.com.
Bench's website, which is still offline at the time of writing, previously touted more than 35,000 “American small business owners” on its platform. According to the archived copy.. (After publication, Employer.com told TechCrunch that Bench has about 12,000 customers.) Bench's website Currently reading.– “More information on how to continue your services will be available soon.” The startup's sudden shutdown on Friday saw customers locked out of their accounts just as tax season was about to begin, and emails to Bench employees from TechCrunch bounced back.
TechCrunch confirmed the acquisition with a Bench board member. Neither Bench nor Employer.com commented on the purchase price.
Employer.com is a new company: its CEO, Jesse Tinsley; The purchase was announced. About $450,000 of domain names in November. Tinsley has worked in HR, including Recruiter.com and BountyJobs. Behind many start-up and recruiting activities. in one Post On Dec. 11, Tinsley said the company is “still acquiring companies” in the HR space. Employer.com is not VC-backed and is entirely self-funded, Charney told TechCrunch.
In an announcement of the acquisition, Employer.com said Bench customers “can look forward to continuing to work with professional in-house bookkeepers they know and trust.”
“This acquisition ensures that Bench customers can continue to rely on the high-quality service they've always received, while opening the door to future enhancements and capabilities powered by Employer.com's extensive resources,” Employer.com said in a statement.
This can be difficult in practice. More than 600 people work on the bench. Its websiteAfter the shutdown, some people posted on LinkedIn that they were now looking for work. Jennifer Bouyoukos, Bench's chief people officer, told TechCrunch that “a lot”—but not all—of her staff are working to make sure Bench stays afloat for now.
TechCrunch has archived Bench's original closing notice from Dec. 27 below.
