Bench Brings Their U.S.-Leading Bookkeeping Automation Service to Canada

It’s been quite the week for Bench.

The Vancouver-based bookkeeping service is expanding their services into Canada as they look to revolutionize the industry in the same they did for their large U.S. user base. This announcement follows a $23 million funding round unveiled just yesterday, as some of that new investment will go into making a mark on the Canadian accounting and bookkeeping ecosystem. Combine that with the fact that it’s prime tax season, and Bench has a whole lot on their plate.

Bench launched as 10Sheet in 2012 then rebranded to their current name in 2013. With 250 employees, 150 of which are bookkeepers, the company has collectively crunched over $19 billion in funds, providing accurate and transparent financial insights to thousands of SMBs over 345 industries across the U.S.

The launch into Canada is a significant move, as many have looked for the company’s services only to see that they are only offered south of the border. In fact, Bench placed fourth on the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and was the fastest growing company in Western Canada.

“Opening our doors at home to serve Canada’s small businesses was always the goal, but it was important to me that we perfect our service offering in our first market, the United States, before pursuing a second,” says Ian Crosby, co-founder and CEO of Bench. “I see an enormous opportunity to make things better for Canadian small business owners and couldn’t be more thrilled to bring our learnings and our product home.”

The company’s automation platform is powered by real people, delivering a hands-off bookkeeping experience that lets SMBs excel and put money back into innovation instead of admin work.

In Canada, Bench will offer annual GST/HST and PST filing preparation and foreign currency account reconciliation to the country’s one million-plus small businesses. This is in addition to normal offerings such as monthly profit and loss balance sheets, year-end sales tax reports and year-end financial packages.

Canadian bookkeeping professionals can expect to have up to 60 per cent of their workload streamlined through Bench’s platform that works seamlessly with bank and payment information.

As mentioned, Bench sealed a new funding round and a chunk of that will go towards rollout in the Canadian market. That funding round was led by iNovia Capital.

“This new capital will facilitate a Canadian launch and accelerate the development of Bench’s cognitive augmentation platform— a key element of the company’s ability to deliver incredibly high-quality yet cost-effective bookkeeping services,” said Shawn Abbott, a partner at iNovia.

Bench can act as both relief to existing small businesses that spend too much time on administrative financial work, and even as catalysts to those looking to start new businesses but who may be intimidated by the amount of bookkeeping and accounting work involved.

The new Canadian services from Bench will be available in every province except Quebec and work with companies that make up to $1.5 million in annual sales revenue.

Bench is a finalist in the Financial Services category for this year’s Canadian Innovation Awards. Voting closes on February 2—cast your vote now.