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    <title>Mainstreet — News</title>
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    <description>Press releases, deal announcements, and company news from Mainstreet.</description>
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    <lastBuildDate>Wed, 01 Oct 2025 05:14:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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      <title>Founders First: Why We Acquired Capbase (And What Comes Next)</title>
      <link>https://msholdings.replit.app/news/capbase-acquisition</link>
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      <pubDate>Wed, 01 Oct 2025 05:14:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <category>Company news</category>
      <dc:creator>Jesse Tinsley, co-founder and chairman, Mainstreet Holdings</dc:creator>
      <description>Mainstreet acquires Capbase to build the first true founder operating system, giving entrepreneurs integrated tools for entity formation, equity management, cap tables, and corporate governance.</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[If you're building something from scratch, you know how lonely the journey can be. Founders aren't just expected to be visionaries. We're expected to be CFOs, CHROs, heads of legal, compliance officers, tax experts, and fundraisers — all before lunch. It's exhausting. And it's broken. At Mainstreet, we believe founders deserve better. That's why we're building the first true founder operating system — a platform purpose-built to give entrepreneurs the tools, tech, and transparency they need to run a company from day one to exit. Today, I'm excited to announce a major step in that journey: Mainstreet has acquired Capbase.

What is Capbase?

Capbase is a platform built by founders, for founders. At its core, it solves one of the most painful and misunderstood parts of starting and scaling a business: entity formation, equity, cap tables, and corporate governance. They didn't just digitize a few forms and call it SaaS. They built a real product that turns the early stage legal mess — incorporating, issuing shares, onboarding investors, staying compliant — into a seamless digital experience that's actually founder-friendly. We're not acquiring Capbase to sunset it or strip it for parts. We're acquiring it to scale it. To take the thing founders already loved, and make it even better — more intuitive, more integrated, more powerful. This isn't a 'pivot.' It's a doubling down.

Why We're Bringing Capbase Home

Most startups begin with a lawyer, a Stripe Atlas form, and a dream. But somewhere between your first 83(b) election and your third priced round, it starts to get messy. Real messy. You lose track of SAFEs. You forget who owns what. You can't answer a basic question like 'How much of my company have I actually sold?' without hiring a consultant or blowing hours in Carta hell. We believe managing your equity shouldn't feel like unraveling a conspiracy theory. Capbase solves that — and we believe in the product so much, we didn't just want to partner with them. We wanted to own it.

What This Means for Founders

Starting today, Capbase is part of the Mainstreet ecosystem. If you're a current Capbase customer, don't worry — nothing changes with your experience. If anything, it's about to get a whole lot better. We're investing heavily in product development and integration, with the goal of making Capbase the default toolset for early-stage founders managing equity, fundraising, and corporate governance. We're turning Capbase into a foundational layer of our platform, giving founders a single pane of glass to manage: company formation, cap table and equity, hiring and onboarding (W-2 and 1099), payroll and benefits, bookkeeping and tax credits, and banking and spend management. And that's not vaporware. This is already live today across different parts of our platform — and now, with Capbase, we're completing a critical piece of the puzzle.

Why Capbase Matters Now More Than Ever

The startup world is changing. The founder journey today looks radically different than it did even five years ago. You're hiring globally from day one. Your investors expect real-time visibility and clean books. You're navigating tax credits, R&amp;D compliance, and state-by-state employment law, usually alone. You need to be lean, fast, and audit-ready, all while building your actual product. The old model — hiring a fractional CFO, cobbling together point solutions, and praying nothing breaks — just doesn't scale. Not anymore. We believe the future belongs to platforms that work together, not Frankenstein stacks that charge you per seat to create more chaos. That's why we're consolidating complexity, and Capbase is a huge part of that strategy.

A Partnership with Deel

Capbase's IP wasn't strategic for Deel, it is at Mainstreet.com. But we're still big fans of Deel. In fact, we're going to strengthen our partnership with them. Deel will be Mainstreet's preferred partner for all EOR and PEO business. And conversely, Mainstreet will be Deel's preferred partner for all Delaware entity incorporation work. We're excited to continue to deepen our relationship with Deel, as we're both focused on helping business' grow, no matter what stage they're in.

This is Just the Start

We didn't start Mainstreet to be another generic back office platform, or another fintech wrapper with better fonts. We started it because we believe founders deserve a better stack — one built for builders, not back-office bloat. Capbase helps us deliver on that promise. And more importantly, it helps founders get back to doing what they actually signed up for: building great companies. If you're an early-stage founder drowning in equity docs and legal fees, try Capbase. If you're an investor who's tired of portfolio companies sending you PDFs and panic texts, send them our way. If you're just trying to build something real, we're here to help. No silos. No friction. No excuses. Just one platform to run your company — and the support you need to do it.

Key highlights
- Capbase provides founder-friendly entity formation, equity, cap tables, and corporate governance
- Integration creates single platform for company formation through exit
- Platform includes hiring, payroll, benefits, bookkeeping, tax credits, and banking
- Built specifically for founders who need integrated, not fragmented, solutions]]></content:encoded>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Mainstreet Joins Employer.com: A Win for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs</title>
      <link>https://msholdings.replit.app/news/1</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://msholdings.replit.app/news/1</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 05 May 2025 11:14:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <category>Company news</category>
      <description>Employer.com announces acquisition of Mainstreet.com, combining tax credit expertise with bookkeeping capabilities to create a complete financial platform that gives small businesses the same advantages big corporations have enjoyed for years.</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[What Mainstreet Does for Small Businesses

Mainstreet uses smart technology to scan through thousands of pages of tax code to find savings for small businesses. Their system identifies tax credits most accountants miss, saving the average small business customer over $100,000 per year; since their founding, SMBs have saved a total of over $200M using Mainstreet. That's money that can go toward hiring, growth, or simply keeping the lights on during tough times.

Building Our Bench Strength

This move builds on our previous acquisition of Bench, which strengthened our bookkeeping services. By combining Mainstreet's tax expertise with Bench's bookkeeping capabilities, we're creating a complete financial platform that gives small businesses the same advantages big corporations have enjoyed for years.

Leveling the Playing Field for SMBs

For too long, small businesses have been at a disadvantage. Large corporations have the resources to hire specialized firms to maximize their tax advantages, while small business owners often leave money on the table because they lack access to the same expertise. We're changing that.

Why This Matters for American Entrepreneurs

Small businesses employ nearly half of all Americans and generate about 44% of our economic activity. When small businesses thrive, communities thrive. Money saved through tax credits gets reinvested locally—creating jobs, supporting families, and building stronger neighborhoods.

Looking Forward: What's Next For Mainstreet

This acquisition isn't the end of our journey—it's just the beginning. We're building a platform that gives small businesses all the technological advantages previously reserved for big corporations. From bookkeeping to tax optimization to accessing capital, we're putting enterprise-level tools in the hands of every small business owner.

Key highlights
- Mainstreet saves average customers over $100,000 per year in tax credits
- Small businesses have saved over $200M total using Mainstreet since founding
- Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) worth up to $28,000 often goes unclaimed
- US employers leave $2-5 billion annually in unclaimed tax credits
- Combined platform provides enterprise-level tools to small businesses]]></content:encoded>
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