Personio, an HR tech scale-up providing a core HR platform to the small and medium business (SMB) segment announced a USD $125 million D round of VC funding.
Still relatively unknown, Personio made some noise in January of 2020 with a USD $75 million round that included Lars Dalgaard, founder of SuccessFactors (sold to SAP for $3.4 billion).
The market for core HR in the SMB is substantial and with no small list of competitors. The SMB segment is rapidly maturing and has been buying a LOT of HR tech, even through the pandemic. Doing less is more – and leveraging tech – is a trend in all market segments and all functional areas, including HR.
This brings the total VC raised for Personio to USD $254 million and with a reported valuation of $1.4 billion that puts them at unicorn status. It’s a significant amount of venture funding for a company entering the market in 2015. It looks like they may be taking a page from Dalgaard’s playbook. The market is certainly large enough to support it, but the pressure will be on to both differentiate and increase their brand recognition beyond their backyard.
Check out the 2020 Global HR Tech VC Lookback to learn about more HR tech funding.