Workpay, the Kenyan cloud-based HR, payroll and benefits platform has raised $5m in a Series A funding round to expand across the continent and build out its financial services provision for its users.
The round of funding was led by Norrsken22 with participation from Visa, Y Combinator, Saviu Ventures, Axian, Plug n Play, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures and Acadian Ventures.
In 2023, Workpay’s successfully raised $2.7 million in a pre-series A round to help firms across Africa navigate employee management away from scattered, erroneous and time-consuming HR and payroll systems for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) which still use Excel and Google sheets to manage their employees.
According to Paul Kimani, CEO of Workpay, “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.”
Co-founded in Nairobi, Kenya by Paul Kimani and Jackson Kibigo, Workpay is a comprehensive cloud-based payroll and HR SaaS platform that helps employers manage employee on-boarding, payroll processing, time tracking, leave management, expense tracking, performance management, employee benefits administration and Employer of record (EOR) services among others.
The service also launched in Nigeria in 2021 and has signed up over 1000 businesses across 20+ countries on the African continent as Africa’s working age population grows by the year and as hybrid and remote work and talent management take the center in Africa. Workpay helps employers save money, be compliant as it offers customization for every market on the continent.
The launch in Nigeria s comes a year after the company secured a $100,000 investment from Kepple Africa in 2019, the year it was founded, and raised $2.1 million in a seed funding round to fully accelerate expansion to additional markets, starting with Nigeria. Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Musha Ventures, and P1 Ventures were among the angel investors who participated in the round, a the time.
In February this year, Workpay was selected into the Visa Africa fintech accelerator program, it’s first to pitch in Nairobi. Other fintechs participating in the demo day included Duqha, Kenya, Power, Kenya, OkHi Kenya and Nigeria and Eversend, Uganda, among others.
Ngetha Waithaka, General Partner at Norrsken22 says, “Our investment in Workpay offers an exciting opportunity to revolutionise how Africa’s SMEs carry out their employee management. Africa boasts one of the largest working age populations in the world and they remain grossly underserved by existing HR and payroll tools. With the addition of integrated financial services, Workpay’s potential for growth is immense.”
