Aus-based employment platform raises AU$22m in funding round

Employment Hero, an emerging Australian business, has raised AU$22 million in Series C funding from some significant names in Australia.

Leading this round of funding was SEEK, the employment marketplace, with participation from OneVentures and AirTree Ventures. This round of funding brings the company's valuation to more than AU$100 million.

Employment Hero is a cloud-powered, advanced employee management and payroll platform that is designed to work alongside SEEK, the largest employment platform in Australia.

The platform is designed for SMEs which can use the tool to reduce time spent on people management by up to 80%, time spent on payroll processing by up to 60% and onboarding a new hire to just minutes, according to the company.

Employees who use the platform can also save up to $5,000 per year through discounts with major retailers, which can be used to offer benefits to staff, the company states.

According to a statement, the new funds will enable the company to further strategic integrations with the SEEK marketplace. The Employment Hero team will work closely with SEEK employees to create amore 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 enables employees to share their work history information via the platform.

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.

Employment Hero co-founder and CEO Ben Thompson, says, "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% 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," says Thompson.

He says, "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.

Thompson says the team has a genuine desire to empower employers.

He says, "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.

SEEK managing director of corporate development Ronnie Fink says, "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.

Founded in 2014, Employment Hero provides more than 4,000 small to medium-sized businesses with automated solutions for employee management, payroll, workforce management and employee benefits. The company has doubled its recurring revenue in the last twelve months and will grow its headcount from 134 to 162 by the end of the year.