PayFit raises €254m to continue transforming in-house payroll for SMEs

By Joy Dumasia

PayFit, a payroll and HR management solution for SMEs, announced that it had raised €254 million in a Series E funding round, a record-breaking amount for a French human resources (HR) startup. General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm, led the round with existing investors Eurazeo, Bpifrance and Accel Ventures. PayFit plans to use the funds to recruit additional top talent, accelerate the development of innovative new products, and increase its market share across Europe.

The company provides a leading next-gen payroll solution that automates complex and time-intensive HR processes, particularly for underserved small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). PayFit’s proprietary technology platform enables HR managers, finance managers and business owners to efficiently conduct payroll calculations in markets with complex regulatory requirements, a key differentiator amidst the fast-growing HR technology market.

Based in France, PayFit has successfully expanded into three additional major European markets, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom and plans to scale from more than 700 current employees to over 1,000 within the next 12 months. The expansion of the PayFit team has included essential senior leadership hires across critical business functions spanning technology, finance, operations, and more.

PayFit will leverage the proceeds from its Series E round to deepen its penetration in existing markets, invest in its core automated payroll software offering, and continue to expand its SME-tailored solution across HR management by complementing leaves/absences and expenses with interview assessment functionality, among other features to be launched in 2022.

Firmin Zocchetto, CEO and co-founder of PayFit, explains: “PayFit’s expansion beyond France into the UK, Spain and Germany demonstrated further validation of our innovative offering and our capacity to scale up. As we look ahead, we plan to use these new funds to deepen our presence in our existing markets, where we have significant growth potential. At PayFit, we are proud to have built a company with strong foundations, where people are happy to work, and that can have a real impact on our clients. This Series E funding will allow us to maintain the rapid growth we have achieved since our founding.”

Chris Caulkin, Managing Director and Head of Technology for EMEA at General Atlantic, commented: “PayFit has built an innovative and disruptive product supporting the payroll and HR management needs of SMBs across Europe. We see great opportunities ahead for the company as it extends its product offering and continues to capture market share in France and across Europe. We are delighted to support PayFit and its management team in this next chapter of growth.”