KENYA – WorkPay, a startup that builds human resources (HR) and payroll solutions for Africa, has raised US$2.1 million in seed funding round led by Kepple Africa Ventures to fuel its growth.
The funding round has also seen participation from Y Combinator (WorkPay recently took part in the Silicon Valley-based accelerator programme), Soma Capital, Musha Ventures, P1 Ventures, and several angel investors. Kepple Africa Ventures, a venture capital based in Africa, had also invested US$100,000 in WorkPay in 2019,
“This new investment will give us the opportunity to scale our human resource management and payroll processing tools to SMBs and expand to enterprise clients across East Africa,” said Paul Kimani, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of WorkPay.
“We are fortunate to have the backing of some incredible people on our mission to make it easy for businesses to manage and pay employees across Africa.”
Ryosuke Yamawaki, general partner of Kepple Africa Ventures, said the moment his team first met with the WorkPay team during a one-on-one pitch day in September 2018, it was clear they were different from anyone else they had met in Nairobi.
“They’re different in the way they define their key customers, understand their real pains, and design specific solutions. It is no surprise that they have come this far. They will surely become one of the most successful startups in the continent and drastically change the way the workforce is managed,” he said.
Originally called TozzaPlus until it rebranded in 2019, WorkPay is a cloud-based human resources management and payroll solution for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Africa.
The startup’s time tracking and salary disbursement tools help African businesses save money and time by eliminating ghost workers from their payroll and inefficiencies associated with cash payments.
Currently, WorkPay processes payrolls for more than 25,000 employees in Kenya and has more than 300 SMBs on its platform, and it is now set for further growth after raising US$2.1 million in funding.
WorkPay offers a B2B salary financing facility for existing clients to enable them to pay their employees on time. The clients can then pay the facility within one month easing the cash flow burden for salary payments at the end of the month.
The WorkPay clients’ employees can also access affordable salary advances and salary-based loans via the WorkPay Employee Self Service Portal available via web and mobile platforms.
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