On June 17, PayFit announced its third round of financing, raising 70 million euros from its historical shareholders. The Paris-based startup aims to become Europe's benchmark HR solution for SMEs.
After two initial fundraising rounds completed in 2016 (€5 million) and 2017 (€14 million), PayFit has concluded a new €70 million round. The start-up raised its funds from leading global investment firm Eurazeo Growth, Bpifrance's Large Venture, Accel, Frst (formerly Otium Venture) and Xavier Niel.
Modernizing human resources in European SMEs
44% of European employees say they have already used a corporate HR management tool, reveals a YouGov survey published in April 2019. According to PayFit's founders, "This is just the beginning of the adventure", with Europe bringing together millions of SMEs looking to digitize.
Initially focused on payroll management, PayFit has broadened its scope to include HR transformation issues. In addition to its SaaS software solution, the company offers other tools designed to digitize and automate HR tasks. A global interface is made available to HR departments, enabling them to independently manage payroll, taxes, expense reports, absences and leave, among other things. As for employees, they have access to a personal space where they can enter their vacations, teleworking days and working hours. Modules for annual appraisals, talent management and career tracking are also planned. PayFit's offering thus integrates all the legal difficulties associated with payroll into one simple solution.
Aware that it is particularly complicated to develop an HR solution in Europe given the diversity of applicable regulations, PayFit is nevertheless keen to rise to the challenge. Established in France since its creation in 2016 by Firmin Zocchetto, Florian Fournier and Ghislain de Fontenay, with a presence in Spain, Germany and recently in the UK, the startup now aims to accelerate its development in Europe.
Growth in the workforce from 2020
To expand rapidly into other European countries in less than three months, the start-up is banking on its JetLang programming language, which is capable of translating the specific legal requirements of each country into code. The company's recent fund-raising of 70 million euros should help it to achieve this goal, which will also be accompanied by a strengthening of its workforce.
PayFit currently has 300 employees in offices in Paris, Barcelona, Berlin and London, supporting over 3,000 companies in their human resources management, including the Fondation Agir contre l'exclusion, Erys Group, specialized in risk management, the Big Mamma catering group, the VTC service Heetch and Le Slip Français. Its workforce could double by 2020. The startup even plans to pass the 1,000-employee mark by the end of 2021.