Not surprisingly, artificial intelligence led the way for big funding rounds last month, but that wasn't the only tech that interested investors. Startups in fintech, energy and more all landed big rounds as investors showered some cash in April. 1. Safe Superintelligence, $2B, artificial intelligence: AI research lab Safe Superintelligence snatched its second large raise in fewer than seven months. SSI, co-founded by OpenAI's former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, reportedly raised a $2 billion round at a $32 billion valuation led by Greenoaks Capital Partners. The startup, which is looking to develop safe artificial intelligence systems, raised a $1 billion round from a litany of big-name investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital last September. 2. Plaid, $575M, fintech: Plaid raised a $575 million round led by Franklin Templeton at a $6.1 billion valuation. The San Francisco-based company plans to use the cash to pay employee tax withholding obligations related to share conversion and to offer some liquidity to employees via a tender offer. Plaid, which connects user bank accounts to fintech apps, had a planned $5.3 billion sale to Visa scrapped back in 2021 following regulatory issues....

Bench didn't specify how many people were affected, but one person who works there estimated that Bench was eliminating dozens of positions ' that's a big chunk of the around 300 people who work for the company. Departments like client success and tax services were directly impacted, with one person directly familiar with the matter telling TechCrunch that most of Bench's U.S.-based tax advisory team was eliminated. Under previous ownership, Bench raised over $110 million in VC funding and over $50 million in debt, but never reached profitability. The company burned through its cash and abruptly shut down, laying off its entire staff and leaving thousands of customers without access to their books. Employer.com then swooped in, buying Bench for $9 million, re-hiring most of the startup's workforce, and pledging to revive the startup. But two current Bench workers and a former one told TechCrunch that Bench has kept most of its workforce on as independent contractors, renewing their 30 day contracts every month instead of hiring them as full-time employees. At the time of the sale, Employer.com said this was a temporary measure....

Kintsugi, a Silicon Valley-based startup that helps companies offload and automate their sales tax compliance, has raised $18 million in new funding led by global indirect tax technology solution provider Vertex. The startup plans to enable more small and medium businesses to use its AI-enabled capabilities for tax calculations and filings. The ongoing growth of e-commerce and cross-border trade, combined with increasingly complex tax regulations, has driven global demand for tax automation solutions. Kintsugi aims to aid companies with its software that integrates with revenue-generating points, whether that's Shopify, Stripe, Chargebee, QuickBooks, or a custom API implementation. This helps bring a 360-view of revenue and lets the startup ingest the data and calculate taxes instantly. 'Our goal is like what Uber did for taxi cabs and Stripe did for credit card payments. We want to do it for the compliance piece in 171 countries,' said Pujun Bhatnagar (pictured above, left), co-founder and CEO of Kintsugi, in an exclusive interview....

For 2023, the group reported strong performance, with pre-tax profit rising from '29m to '37.6m and revenues climbing from '302.9m to '314.7m, reflecting robust demand and continued customer loyalty despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. The company credited its success to a clear value proposition and ongoing operational enhancements. The potential sale of The Ivy, first reported in late 2023, remains on track, with private equity firm SI Advisers leading negotiations. The process is progressing as SI Advisers seeks the right co-investor to support the next phase of growth for the celebrated hospitality brand. Richard Caring owns up to 50% of The Ivy group, alongside other investors including former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani. The group remains focused on strategic investment and growth opportunities, with 2024 financial statements due later this year. A statement from the board highlighted: 'Whilst inflationary pressures reduced consumer confidence compared to the post-pandemic highs, the group's value proposition continued to resonate strongly with customers.'...