People management platform Employment Hero has secured AUD$22 million in Series C funding

Cloud-powered people management platform Employment Hero yesterday announced it had secured AU$22 million in Series C funding, in a round led by Australia’s number one employment marketplace, SEEK, with participation from OneVentures and AirTree Ventures.

The new funding round brings Employment Hero’s valuation to over AU$100 million, making it one of a select few Australian startups to reach this status.

Using Employment Hero, Australian SMEs report reducing time spent on people management by up to 80 per cent, time spent on payroll processing by up to 60 per cent and onboarding a new hire to just minutes. 

Employment Hero also uses its collective buying power to negotiate discounts with major retailers and allows small businesses to offer meaningful benefits to their staff, with employees who use the platform saving up to $5,000 per year.

What will the platform direct the funding to?

Powered by the fresh capital, Employment Hero will develop strategic integrations into SEEK’s expansive marketplace, working closely with the team to create a more holistic employment management experience for small businesses. 

The funding will allow Employment Hero to continue to build and expand on its new WorkLife Passport offering, which will enable employees to share their onboarding information seamlessly throughout their entire career via the platform.

With the aim to be the world’s most loved all-in-one people management platform and drive employment growth, Employment Hero will further use the capital to help fuel the company’s launch into international markets, with an initial focus on New Zealand, South East Asia, the UK and Ireland.

Ronnie Fink, Managing Director of Corporate Development at SEEK, said: “SEEK is well placed to play a greater role in the Human Capital Management market.

“HR SaaS is one of three key areas of focus for us, and our increased investment in Employment Hero reflects our confidence in their value proposition and their strong management team.

“We have been very pleased with their performance to-date and look forward to working with them more closely to capitalise on the growth opportunity that lies ahead.”

What does this mean for the top management?

Ben Thompson, co-founder and CEO of Employment Hero, said: “This latest raise is an extraordinary opportunity to see Employment Hero’s purpose come to life at scale, fulfilling our mission to make employment easier and more rewarding for everyone. 

“In Australia, 97 per cent of employers have less than 200 employees and largely don’t have access to the right tools to make that process easy or offer more meaningful benefits to their staff. Our single platform solves this dilemma by essentially doing for employment what Xero is doing for bookkeepers. We want businesses to go from Xero to Hero.

“As an advanced employee management and payroll platform, working hand-in-glove with the largest employment platform, SEEK, we can offer real value to businesses anywhere on the planet.”

“We not only want to help our existing businesses to grow internationally, but we want to start supporting the businesses that approach us from outside Australia,” Mr Thompson added.

He continued, “By working with the teams at SEEK, OneVentures and AirTree, we have a genuine opportunity to change the employment landscape, giving employers more confidence to grow their business, and helping employees to better save, manage and build their finances.

“For example, we moved fast in response to Commissioner Hayne’s recommendation that the superannuation industry should develop ‘the machinery’ to provide one superannuation fund for life, with our new Passport feature giving employees that ability.

“In a short period of time, we have put together a ‘fund for life’ solution for a monumental problem affecting everyday Australians.”