Thomson Reuters Acquires AI-Powered Tax Automation Startup SafeSend for $600 Million

Thomson Reuters snaps up AI-powered tax automation startup SafeSend for $600M - SiliconANGLE

Thomson Reuters snaps up AI-powered tax automation startup SafeSend for $600M The global media organization and technology services provider Thomson Reuters Corp. said today it has acquired the tax automation software company SafeSend in a $600 million all-cash deal. Michigan-based SafeSend, officially known as cPaperless LLC, was founded in 2008 and has built a cloud-based platform that's designed to automate the processing and management of sensitive financial documents, including tax filings. It provides tools for filling out tax returns, collecting payments, gathering e-signatures, automating financial workflows and compliance reporting, among other things. The company is said to have 235 employees at its Michigan headquarters, and claims its platform is used by 70% of the top 100 accounting firms in the U.S. Thomson Reuters is mostly known for its global news agency, but it also dabbles in software, offering enterprise-grade products and tools that span accounting, financial management and law. Indeed, SafeSend looks to be a great fit for Thomson Reuters' existing tax preparation software, called UltraTax CS, and already boasts native integrations with that platform. By better integrating SafeSend's capabilities with its own tax offerings, Thomson Reuters says it will be better able to automate the "last mile" of the tax return process. Elizabeth Beastrom, who is Thomson Reuters' president of Tax, Audit and Accounting Professionals, said the acquisition reinforces the company's commitment to addressing the challenges faced by tax professionals and taxpayers. "By integrating SafeSend's innovative technology with our existing solutions, we're simplifying tax preparation workflows, and meeting the dynamic demands of businesses we serve to help them thrive in an increasingly complex tax landscape," she added. The company said it will continue to offer SafeSend as a standalone product for now, and will continue to maintain its native integrations with rival tax software products. One likely reason for the acquisition is that SafeSend can help Thomson Reuters to improve its artificial intelligence capabilities. In November, SafeSend launched a new generative AI-powered tool called SafeSend One, which is said to automate the entire tax return process by gathering documents and automatically compiling the necessary documents for customers. Thomson Reuters made a similar move in October when it bought a U.S. startup called Materia Inc., which has developed AI agents for accounting professionals, for an undisclosed price. Materia's platform gives accountants the tools they need to create and customize AI assistants that can automate knowledge work for tax, auditing and research, so as to improve their ability to assist their clients. The startup's AI agents do more than just provide answers and summaries, as they have the ability to perform certain actions without human intervention, such as generating reports, emails and analyzing documents. Thomson Reuters said in November that it will invest more than $100 million in AI technologies this year, with the goal of integrating them with its information technology products. It said it intends to leverage its vast trove of data, accumulated by its software platforms and its news agency, to train its AI models. In November 2022, Thomson Reuters acquired the accounting automation startup SurePrep LLC in a deal valued at $500 million.

Thomson Reuters snaps up tax automation business SafeSend

Thomson Reuters' Elizabeth Beastrom said that the acquisition underscores its commitment to 'addressing the evolving challenges faced by tax professionals and taxpayers alike'. Canadian multinational technology corporation Thomson Reuters announced yesterday (2 January) it had acquired cPaperless LLC, which operates under the name SafeSend, for $600m in cash. Initially established in 2008, US-based SafeSend is a cloud-native provider of technology for tax and accounting professionals. It says that its software is used by 70pc of the top 100 accounting firms across the US in order to solve pain points for customers and their clients by terminating time-consuming manual tasks. Thomson Reuters, which owns news agency Reuters, said that it intends to continue to offer SafeSend as a market solution, supporting the ability to interoperate with multiple vendors across a connected tax software ecosystem Speaking on the acquisition, Elizabeth Beastrom, president of tax, audit and accounting professionals at Thomson Reuters, said that it symbolises the conglomerate's commitment to "addressing the evolving challenges faced by tax professionals and taxpayers alike". "By integrating SafeSend's innovative technology with our existing solutions, we're simplifying tax preparation workflows, and meeting the dynamic demands of businesses we serve to help them thrive in an increasingly complex tax landscape." Steve Dusablon, the co-founder of SafeSend, also welcomed the latest announcement, adding that the acquisition marked "an exciting new chapter" for its customers. "Becoming a part of Thomson Reuters will enable us to accelerate product development efforts and realise our shared vision of an end-to-end tax workflow solution," Dusablon said. Looking to the future, Thomson Reuters has claimed that SafeSend - which employs around 235 employees - is expected to generate approximately $60m of revenue in 2025. In addition, it further asserted that SafeSend is projected to grow more than 25pc annually in the next few years. Last August, SafeSend launched an artificial intelligence product called SafeSend One, which automates the entire tax process. In 2021, SafeSend raised an undisclosed figure from Lead Edge Capital, which is a a growth-stage investment fund based in New York and California. In 2022, Thomson Reuters acquired a different tax automation company, SurePrep, in a $500m deal. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.