Kenyan HR payroll start-up Workpay raises Ksh.645M Series A funding

Kenyan HR payroll provider Workpay has secured Ksh.645 million ($5 million) in funding in a Series A round.

Co-founded by Paul Kimani (CEO) and Jackson Kungu (COO) and launched in 2019, Workpay offers employers a cloud-based platform to process employees’ salaries and benefits, file taxes, and keep track of their attendance and leave days.

It also helps businesses with cross-border employees ensure employee compliance across different markets. 

The round was led by pan-African venture capital firm Norrsken22 and Visa, as well as existing investors Y Combinator, Saviu Ventures, Axian, Plug n Play, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, and Acadian Ventures. 

Kimani said the start-up plans to channel the new funding towards expanding its financial services offering, incorporating AI into its performance management tools, and expanding its workforce. 

“The shift in customer needs has pushed us to expand our product from being a solid payroll solution to offering a more full-stack HR service. We have also noticed an opportunity to layer financial services on top of our HR offerings,” Kimani was on Thursday quoted as telling the American technology outlet TechCrunch.

Under the start-up’s platform, employees of the partner companies have their own app where they receive and view their pay slips, make expense requests and apply for leave days.

The Y Combinator-backed start-up says it serves more than 1,000 customers across 20 African countries, having added almost 500 businesses to its platform in the past 16 months.

Early last year, Workpay secured $2.7 million in a pre-Series A round backed by Launch Africa Ventures, Saviu Ventures, Acadian Ventures, PROPARCO, Fondation Botnar, Kara Ventures, and Axian Group Norrsken.

The start-up was in Y Combinator’s 2020 class. At the time, the company raised $2.1 million in seed funding.