- WorkPay has received KSh 341.3 million (US$2.7 million) from international investors to expand in Africa
- The Kenyan HR and payroll solution said the pre-series A round was led by several companies including Acadian Ventures, Fondation Botnar, P1 Ventures, and Kara Ventures
- The funding will assist WorkPay to expand in 40 countries in Africa
WorkPay, a Kenyan human resource (HR) and payroll solution startup WorkPay, has received KSh 341.3 million from international investors to expand in Africa. The startup offers cloud-based human resources management and payroll solution for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Africa.
On February 22, 2023, WorkPay announced that the investment, a pre-series A round, was led by several companies including Acadian Ventures, Fondation Botnar, P1 Ventures, and Kara Ventures.
The funding will assist WorkPay to expand in 40 countries in Africa.
Commenting on the funding, WorkPay CEO and Co-Founder Paul Kimani told TechCrunch that the company has a payroll engine that can serve customers in additional markets. WorkPay is also planning to release an API to enable, for instance, accounting firms to be payroll providers.
“We have integrated with nearly everyone who is processing payments to allow us to send money to as many countries in Africa as possible,” Kimani said.
The company owns time tracking and salary disbursement tools that help African businesses save money and time by eliminating ghost workers from their payroll and the inefficiencies associated with cash payments.
Currently, it processes more than 300 payrolls per month from more than 400 SMBs.
Kenyan start-ups yearly funding to hit US85 million by 2025
The latest funding comes three years after WorkPay raised KSh 238.7 million (US$2.1 million). In 2020, the company received the funding for growth purposes.
In 2020, it raised Sh238.7 million (US$2.1 million) in seed funding to fuel its growth. In early 2022, the company expanded its services to over 10 African countries including South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Rwanda.
WorkPay said it plans to set up physical and virtual offices in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana, Egypt, and Tanzania.
63 Kenyan startups raise KSh 62 billion in 2022
In a related story, Kenya was the second most attractive destination for investors with startups in the country receiving a record KSh 62.4 billion in 2022. According to the Kenyan Startup Ecosystem Report 2022 by Disrupt Africa, 63 small and medium enterprises were the recipient of the funding.
The survey, released in December 2022, also found that 242 firms secured investment between January 2015 and mid-November 2022, totalling to KSh 158 billion or US$1.2 billion.
As per the report’s finding, the 63 firms raised US$506,686,000 in seed capital funding in 2022, up from $291,983,000 raised in 2021 and $47,365,000 in 2015 when Disrupt Africa records began.
Eastern Africa startups raised $1.2 billion in 2022
The Exchange Africa also reported in January 2023 that startups in Eastern Africa raised $1.2 billion in 2022 to mark a 115% increase, compared to $600 million raised in 2021.
The figure was drawn from data by The Big Deal which revealed that this was the first time the region had crossed the US$1 billion mark for the first time.
The Big Deal report also noted that Western Africa, despite a small decrease in funding in the period under review, remained firmly in the lead in the continent. The region’s startups received funding worth $1.8 billion in 2022 from $2 billion in 2021.
Northern Africa had the highest increase in the period under review receiving US$1.1 billion in startup funding, crossing the US$1 billion mark for the first time. This represents a 62% increase from the previous year when startups got US$700 million in funding in 2021. Its share of funding raised on the continent grew, from 15% to 23%.
“Southern Africa however is the region suffering the biggest loss with a 44% decrease from US$1.1 billion in 2021 to just over US$600 million in 2022. As a result, its share of the total funding was also about halved: 12%, down from 23%,” the report states.
Central Africa remains miles behind its neighbours with – US$50 million raised – more than double the 2021 number – and a total share of funding that surpassed 1% for the first time.
Jobs by Kenyan startups hit 11,000 – Report
