Lagos-based HR and payroll tech startup SeamlessHR has closed a VC-led round of funding to unlock its next phase of growth.
Founded in 2018 and describing itself as “Workday for emerging markets”, SeamlessHR is building an enterprise-grade, cloud-based HR platform that helps medium to large-sized companies automate and optimise their entire HR process, from recruitment to retirement.
The startup’s product suite includes a Recruitment Management System, Core HR Management, Performance and Competency Management, Payroll Management, Leave Management, HR Analytics and several other modules, and SeamlessHR already boasts an impressive list of customers, including Sterling Bank, Wema Bank, Lagos Business School, PwC and KPMG.
The round, the amount of which is undisclosed, was led by the New York-based Lateral Capital and the Lagos-based Consonance Investment Managers, with participation from Enza Capital and Ingressive Capital. SeamlessHR had previously raised pre-seed funding from Ventures Platform and Tofino Capital, plus some Nigerian angel investors, last year.
Dr Emmanuel Okeleji, SeamlessHR’s chief executive officer (CEO), said the company would use its new round of funding to optimise its product suite and aggressively drive its pan-African expansion.
“We have what we can call a first mover advantage in the enterprise HR cloud SaaS space in Africa. This round of funding will help us consolidate on this advantage and scale operations quickly across the continent,” he said.
“Building a robust enterprise SaaS platform that big corporates; banks and the likes of PwC and KPMG can power their business with takes some heavy lifting. We are motivated by the faith our customers have invested in our technology and are obsessed about what we call “customer enjoyment”. We like to go beyond satisfaction to having our customers enjoy using the tools we are building for their work. This round of funding will help us double down on that most important work.”
Rob Elof, managing partner at Lateral Capital, said Africa’s greatest asset was undoubtedly its human capital, and managing and growing this resource was important work.
“In Emmanuel and Deji we see two highly talented and experienced founders that have surrounded themselves with talent and have thoughtfully created a product suite and culture that will enable success in building Africa’s own WorkDay and more. Lateral Capital is thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of this journey,” he said.
Okeleji said he believed SeamlessHR had the potential to become a unicorn.
“We certainly think this is possible. If you ask any staff of SeamlessHR what the 5-to-10 year goal of the company is, you will get a short four-word answer – “to be a unicorn”. We believe that the opportunity to help businesses optimise their resources, people, finances, and materials with innovative cloud SaaS technology, is big enough to support this goal and we have found in our investors the right companions for the long haul,” he said.
