Khosla Ventures leads $10M seed round for Synthetic AI bookkeeping

In short: Khosla Ventures led a $10 million seed funding round for Synthetic, a new startup that wants to automate bookkeeping using AI.

What happened

Synthetic is being built by Ian Crosby, the founder of Bench Accounting, a bookkeeping startup that shut down in 2024 and was later sold, according to TechCrunch. Crosby is now trying again, with a new company focused on making bookkeeping happen without human accountants.

Khosla Ventures led the $10 million seed round. Basis Set Ventures also joined, along with Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke. Seed funding is early money that helps a young company hire people and build the first version of a product.

Synthetic’s goal is a “fully autonomous” AI bookkeeper. That means the software would do the work on its own, including creating accrual-based financial statements (reports that record money when it is earned or owed, not only when cash moves). Crosby told TechCrunch the product is still being designed, and he is not sure current AI systems can reliably do everything he wants.

Khosla partner Jon Chu said he is willing to back founders who have had past failures, and he believes people can learn and improve. Crosby said he was fired by Bench’s board in 2021, and that later leadership failed to turn the business around.

Why it matters

Many small companies already struggle to keep their books clean and up to date. If AI can do more of this work safely, it could lower costs and reduce mistakes, but only if the system is dependable. Crosby compared the challenge to a self-driving car that can handle one street versus any street, and Synthetic is still figuring out how broadly its approach can work.

Source: TechCrunch AI