Americans spend over 13 hours and hundreds of dollars filing taxes annually, creating a massive burden in a system designed for compliance rather than optimization. The $15B+ U.S. individual tax market serves more than 160 million taxpayers, yet most navigate this complexity without the tools needed to make tax-optimized financial decisions throughout the year. april addresses this challenge as the only embedded, year-round tax platform built to power smarter financial decisions, partnering with banks, payroll providers, wealth platforms, and fintechs to help Americans file, plan, and optimize their taxes directly within the apps they already use to manage their money. The company’s AI-powered tax engine handles even the most complex tax situations, ingesting data directly from partner apps to deliver accurate outcomes in record time, with filing times averaging just 22 minute. In early 2025, april became the first new company in 15 years to secure national e-file coverage across all 50 states, and now serves millions of Americans through more than 50 partners while tripling in size year-to-date.
AlleyWatch sat down with april CEO and Cofounder Ben Borodach to learn more about the business, its future plans, and recent $38M Series B round that brings total funding to $78M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We raised a $38M Series B round led by QED Investors, with participation from Nyca Partners and Team8.
Tell us about the product or service that april offers.
april is the only embedded, year-round tax platform built to power smarter financial decisions. We partner with banks, payroll providers, wealth platforms, and fintechs to help Americans file, plan, and optimize their taxes directly within the apps they already use to manage their money. Made to handle even the most complex tax situations, april’s AI-powered tax engine ingests data directly from partner apps to deliver accurate outcomes in record time and making tax planning and filing more connected, contextual, and accessible than ever.
What inspired the start of april?
Most Americans spend over 13 hours and hundreds of dollars on taxes every year just to stay compliant. We started april to fix that. Our vision is to embed tax intelligence in every financial decision and to eliminate the burden of tax season by building the most connected, proactive tax infrastructure in the U.S.
How is april different?
april is the first new company in 15 years to secure national e-file coverage across all 50 states. Unlike legacy players, we built our system API-first, embedded-first, and designed it to power filing, forecasting, and planning. Our proprietary AI engine ingests financial data in real time to deliver tax outcomes that are accurate, contextual, and fast—filing times average just 22 minutes, compared to the IRS average of 13 hours.
What market does april target and how big is it?
We target the $15B+ U.S. individual tax market, including more than 160 million taxpayers. Our platform also addresses the growing needs of segments underserved by traditional solutions, including small business owners, gig workers, and wealth management clients.
What’s your business model?
april employs a B2B2C model. We offer flat-rate SaaS pricing to our partners, who embed or white-label our tax filing and planning tools. We avoid per-form upcharges and align our incentives with both our partners and their end users.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
Tax is countercyclical—compliance doesn’t disappear in a downturn. april’s tools help Americans keep more of their income through better planning and optimized withholding. Our embedded model also enables platforms to deepen engagement and deliver more value without adding operational overhead.
What was the funding process like?
We had strong inbound interest based on product traction and infrastructure milestones. QED had participated in our seed and Series A, and stepped up meaningfully to lead the Series B after seeing the strength of our national platform, commercial growth, and team execution.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Educating investors on the regulatory complexity and infrastructure depth required to build national tax capabilities was a challenge. Only around ten companies in the U.S. have ever achieved national e-file coverage, and april is the first to do it in over a decade. Demonstrating that this infrastructure could also power broad financial use cases was critical.
Educating investors on the regulatory complexity and infrastructure depth required to build national tax capabilities was a challenge. Only around ten companies in the U.S. have ever achieved national e-file coverage, and april is the first to do it in over a decade. Demonstrating that this infrastructure could also power broad financial use cases was critical.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Our unique infrastructure, rapid commercial growth, and ability to solve a high-friction, high-frequency problem in financial services were key. We’ve shown that embedded tax can drive platform stickiness, boost user satisfaction (NPS over 60), and unlock new monetization.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Launch stock sale impact tools with a major U.S. exchange
Expand tax pro on-demand services beyond beta
Deepen integrations in small business and wealth management verticals
Announce new partnerships with leading financial institutions
Continue scaling platform usage and improving AI-powered personalization
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Focus on real customer problems, build responsibly, and align closely with your users. Great products speak louder than pitch decks, especially in today’s market. Consistent execution and thoughtful capital efficiency matter more than ever. I also wouldn’t be afraid to build a suite of products from the start, as that’s what we did at april. The problems entrepreneurs are trying to solve rarely fix into one neat category, and compound startups align with that reality.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We’re scaling from a filing platform into a year-round, intelligent tax infrastructure. Our goal is to make proactive, personalized tax guidance available to every American through the apps they already trust—whether they’re running a business, investing, or simply earning a paycheck.
What’s your favorite summer destination in and around the city?
Yankee Stadium.
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