According to research from the European Union, many of the more than 25 million SMBs in the European market have yet to adopt any kind of HR platform. Personio, a German startup that targets small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with an all-in-one HR platform has been able to capitalize on this. The company’s platform offers a suite of recruiting and onboarding, payroll, absence tracking, and other major HR functions.
“SMEs are the backbone of the European economy, employing 100 million people across the continent, but it is also a sector that has been neglected by software companies focused predominantly on large enterprises,” said Martin Mignot, a partner at Index Ventures who sits on Personio’s board. “Personio changes that, having created a set of powerful tools tailored to address the needs of small businesses.”
Now, the innovative company has announced that it raised $125 million in a Series D funding round, which now values the business at $1.7 billion.
The new funding will accelerate the further international expansion of the software company, supporting its ambition of becoming Europe’s leading HR platform for SMEs. It follows a strong year of growth for the business in 2020, which saw it double revenues despite adverse market conditions. The company also hopes to double its 500-person team by the end of the year. The new injection of employees will help Personio expand into new markets such as France and Italy, as well as support its efforts to establish a bigger presence in the markets where it already operates.
Personio is already helping more than 3,000 SMEs across Europe unlock their productive potential by digitizing and automating their people operations.
The latest funding was led by existing investor Index Ventures, which has previously supported high-profile software companies including Slack, Dropbox, and Zendesk to their IPO. All of Personio’s other existing investors – Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, Global Founders Capital, and Picus – participated in this latest funding round, which comes only twelve months after Personio received $75 million in Series C funding.
While the funding also provides the option for further acquisitions, such as the purchase of Rollbox in 2019, there are currently no merger or acquisition activities planned and the focus remains on continued growth in this emerging market.
