Following $2.7 million in pre-Series A funding from Launch Africa, Saviu Ventures, Acadian Ventures, Proparco, Fondation Botnar, Kara Ventures, Axian, P1 Ventures, and Norrsken, Kenyan HR payroll startup Workpay will soon expand its services to 40 countries in Africa, nearly doubling its current reach. The firm (W20) with YC backing had previously secured $2.1 million in initial investment in 2020.
Paul Kimani, co-founder and CEO of Workpay, stated that they want to use the funds to build a payroll engine that can service clients in more areas in an effort to remain ahead of their clients’ demands. He continued by saying that the business will also make an API available, allowing, for example, accounting companies to offer payroll services.
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Thomas Otter, general partner at Acadian Ventures, said in a statement: “Workpay is building a top-notch product, meeting the specific needs for HR and payroll in Sub-Saharan Africa. The addressable market in the region is growing rapidly and HR and payroll systems provide the foundation for fair and accurate pay. When combined with advances in mobile payments, solutions like Workpay can have a positive impact on businesses and society.”
A Look At What The Startup Does
Workpay, a startup founded in 2019, provides tools that let its clients file taxes, administer employee benefits, and pay salaries to employees in local currencies throughout Africa (and, through partnerships with other companies, also outside the continent). Employers may track and manage employees’ leave days, time and attendance using its capabilities.
“We are a full-stack HR Payroll company, and we help employees to manage their people and pay them. And ours is a very neat platform that processes payrolls, and helps employers to be compliant,” said Kimani. “As an employer you are able to pay employees wherever they are, and in their preferred accounts — they don’t have to be forced to open accounts with specific banks just because the employer banks there — and file taxes too.”
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Kimani, who co-founded Workpay with Jackson Kungu (COO), believes that Africa has a significant chance for market leadership since it has the technical and non-technical infrastructure needed to grow.
“On the tech side, we have integrated with nearly everyone who is processing payments to allow us to send money to as many countries in Africa as possible. Non-tech means we have established a presence in these countries, and have partners that allow us to be compliant, which is very important,” he said.
Employees may receive and examine their pay stubs, submit expense reports, and request leave days via an employee-side app.
Workpay is also adding financial services on top of its HR and payroll platform including linkages to investment accounts, medical and asset insurance and earned-wage access for employees attending to emergencies or bills.
“We are building a marketplace, and bringing in other players that can serve employers and employees on our platform,” said Kimani.
Kimani claims that Workpay has seen significant income and customer development, with a surge recorded during the COVID slowdown of 2020.
“Since 2021 we have been doubling revenue every year, and the number of our customers — who are nearing 700 as we speak. We also have about $200 million in total payroll value that we are handling for our customers annually,” he said.
Workpay HR
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard