Workpay, a Kenyan cloud-based HR, payroll and benefits platform has raised $5m in Series A funding. The funding round was led by Norrsken22 and included participation from Visa, Y Combinator, Saviu Ventures, Axian, Plug n Play, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures and Acadian Ventures, a venture firm which specialises in investment into the next generation of work technologies.
This follows Workpay’s successful pre-series A round of $2.7m in early 2023 and in 2020, the YC-backed startup raised $2.1 million in seed funding.
Workpay was co-founded by Paul Kimani and Jackson Kibigo and offers a comprehensive cloud-based payroll and HR SaaS platform that manages the entire journey of employees and contractors, from onboarding to offboarding. It includes features like payroll processing, time tracking, leave management, expense tracking, performance management, employee benefits administration and Employer of record (EOR) services among others.
It has a great foundation with 1000+ businesses across 20+ countries on the African continent on the platform, and is looking to provide the future of employee financial services and benefits.
Paul Kimani, CEO of Workpay, said, “Our goal is to become the go-to solution for employers and employees in managing HR, payroll, and work-related benefits. Our deep understanding of regulation across the African continent allows businesses working across multiple countries to manage payroll and tax using a single integrated platform. This raise will support Workpay to reach profitability, a huge milestone for our company.”
Workpay has indicated that it will use the money raised to aid its expansion across the continent and build out its financial services provision.
Africa is poised to have the largest working age population by 2050 and the rise in remote work and talent shortages in other markets is driving demand for services outsourcing in Africa, which will lead to increased demand for African talent. Workpay says it is strategically positioned to help companies on and off the continent pay their employees compliantly while providing much-needed financial services to employees.