PaidHR raises $1.8 million seed round

PaidHR, a Nigerian HR tech startup that aims to modernise payroll and human resource management for African businesses, has successfully closed a $1.8 million seed funding round. The investment was spearheaded by Accion Venture Lab, with significant follow-on participation from existing backers, including Zrosk, Chui Ventures, and Zedcrest Capital.

Founded in 2020, PaidHR has broadened its reach from its Nigerian origins to serve small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and technology startups in Kenya and South Africa. The company primarily targets businesses in the logistics, retail, and manufacturing sectors with fewer than 200 employees, a segment often hampered by manual and inefficient administrative processes.

PaidHR’s integrated platform is designed to automate both local and international payroll, ensure regulatory adherence, and offer tailored financial products to employees. This latest capital injection will be deployed to accelerate product development, bolster customer support teams, and deepen the company’s footprint within Africa’s burgeoning enterprise and SME markets.

“We are building HR management for the African context,” said Seye Bandele, CEO of PaidHR. “This funding allows us to scale our vision, expand our reach, and deliver even more value to our clients.”

Africa’s labor force is projected to see a significant influx, with half of all new global entrants expected to come from sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. Currently, an estimated 44 million SMEs provide approximately 80% of the continent’s jobs. However, many of these businesses operate informally, limiting their ability to provide comprehensive HR and financial services. PaidHR aims to solve the problem by improving financial inclusion and economic resilience for Africa’s growing workforce

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Amee Parbhoo, Managing Partner at Accion Venture Lab, commented, “PaidHR’s integrated platform is tackling deep-rooted structural challenges faced by small businesses and their employees in underserved markets. By combining human resources automation with embedded financial services like earned wage access and USD savings, the platform not only improves how businesses operate but seeks to deliver meaningful financial inclusion for workers.”

A key feature of the PaidHR platform is an earned wage access (EWA) tool, which allows employees to draw a portion of their salary before their scheduled payday. This is intended to curb reliance on high-interest predatory loans. The platform also includes a multi-currency wallet, enabling employees to receive payments in both local currency and U.S. dollars, providing a hedge against financial instability.

“Our clients trust us with their most sensitive workforce data and payroll processes,” stated Lekan Omotosho, Co-founder and CTO of PaidHR. “That’s why we’ve built PaidHR on a foundation of robust and secure technology infrastructure.”