France-based payroll startup PayFit has reportedly secured USD 289 million in the latest Series E funding round, reaching a total valuation of USD 2.1 billion and acquiring the unicorn status. The latest fundraising was led by General Atlantic and included some existing investors such as Bpifrance’s Large Venture Fund, Eurazeo, and Accel.

For those unaware, PayFit has been developing a payroll and HR software-as-a-service platform for small and medium businesses. Although the French startup is only available in a few European countries, it has employed over 150,000 people.

PayFit intends to use the fresh capital to diversify its product offering, integrate with other third-party services, and improve its customer service in Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, and London. The platform is currently being used by at least 6,000 businesses, of which 80% are based in France. Other customers include Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Firmin Zocchetto, the co-founder & CEO at PayFit was quoted saying that the company’s annual recurring revenue has climbed by 70% in 2021. PayFit intends to offer the same benefits to smaller companies that would be found among larger corporations, the CEO explained.  

Interestingly, PayFit has a distinctive product advantage over other solutions since it does not require users to be payroll experts or work for an accounting company. However, the startup ensures that businesses stay compliant while concealing the complexity.

PayFit has several tools to help users manage vacation leaves, onboarding, timesheets, and expenses for enterprise employees. The platform will soon include a feature for managing annual performance reviews as well.

It is also worth mentioning that PayFit is part of a group of companies that are revolutionizing the admin stack. Qonto and Alan, are two firms working on upgrading back-end solutions, in which Qonto provides bank accounts to small businesses, whereas Alan provides health insurance to companies.

Source Credit:

https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/05/payroll-startup-payfit-is-frances-latest-unicorn-as-it-raises-289-million/