Kenyan startup WorkPay, which builds human resources (HR) and payroll solutions for Africa, has raised US$2.1 million in seed funding to fuel its growth.
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.
The round is led by Kepple Africa Ventures, which also invested US$100,000 in WorkPay in 2019, and also sees participation from Y Combinator (WorkPay recently took part in the Silicon Valley-based accelerator programme), Soma Capital, Musha Ventures, P1 Ventures, and a number of angel investors.
“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. 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,” said Paul Kimani, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of WorkPay.
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.
