Sienna IM announces new venture; invests $5m in Hourly

By Gloria Methri

Sienna Investment Managers, the subsidiary investment platform of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) has invested $5 million through the company’s newly created Sienna Venture Capital team in Hourly.io, a workers’ comp and payroll start-up. The investment brings Hourly’s Series A fund to $32 million.

Sienna IM, which has offices in Luxembourg, London, Paris, Hamburg, Madrid, Amsterdam, and Seoul, oversees more than €32 billion for GBL and institutional clients. They do this through real estate assets, private and public market fund investments, and direct equity investments in unlisted companies.

“We were impressed with how quickly Hourly has scaled over a short period of time,” said Isabelle Amiel-Azoulai, Founding Partner, Sienna VC. “Without question, Hourly has already proved itself to be a robust contender disrupting the payroll and workers’ compensation markets and a very attractive first investment.”

Hourly will join Sienna’s portfolio of investments, which includes nine asset managers and 150+ underlying companies. Sienna has also made five successful co-investments with top sponsors such as the Carlyle Group and KKR.

Established in 2018, Hourly offers a full-service platform that connects workers’ comp, time tracking, and payroll in real-time for small and medium-sized business owners with hourly workers. It uses real-time data to calculate workers’ comp premiums–which typically are based on payroll estimates.

“We are thrilled to be one of the first investments for Sienna VC,” said Tom Sagi, Hourly co-founder, and CEO. “Sienna is as passionate as we are about improving and disrupting the workers’ comp and payroll industries. They now play a key role in helping us bring easy, affordable workers’ comp and payroll services to small businesses throughout the US”

The funding from Sienna VC follows Hourly’s June announcement that the company raised $27 million in Series A funding led by Glilot Capital Partners with participation from S Capital, Vintage Investment Partners, J-Ventures, Upshot Ventures, and MS&AD.