Workpay secures $5 million in Series A funding to fuel expansion across Africa

Kenyan HR and payroll startup Workpay has raised $5 million in Series A funding, a significant milestone that underscores the company’s rapid growth and its commitment to addressing the HR and payroll challenges faced by businesses across Africa.

The funding round was led by Norrsken22, a pan-African venture capital firm, with participation from global payments giant Visa, as well as existing investors Y Combinator and Saviu Ventures.

Since its inception in 2019, Workpay has now raised nearly $10 million. The involvement of Visa, particularly following its fintech accelerator program, highlights the confidence investors have in Workpay’s growth trajectory and its potential to transform HR management across the continent.

Founded by Paul Kimani and Jackson Kungu, Workpay started as a payroll service provider but has since evolved into a comprehensive HR platform. It offers affordable, user-friendly cloud-based solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa.

The platform is designed to simplify HR and payroll management, making it accessible even to businesses that have traditionally relied on Excel and Google Sheets due to the high costs associated with more complex systems.

Workpay’s platform supports a wide range of businesses, from those with 20-100 employees operating within a single country to larger companies with up to 1,000 employees across multiple African nations. The platform has already onboarded nearly 500 businesses in the past 16 months, serving over 1,000 customers in 20 African countries.

The new funding will be used to expand Workpay’s financial services offerings, enhance its performance management tools with artificial intelligence, and grow its workforce. Additionally, the company plans to solidify its presence across Africa, including its expansion into Francophone Africa, which had faced some delays. Despite these challenges, Workpay has seen its revenue grow by 1.5 times in the first half of 2024 and is on track to double by year-end.

Co-founder Paul Kimani emphasized that Workpay remains well-positioned despite increasing global competition. He noted that the diverse regulatory environments across African countries present unique challenges for international players.