PaidHR, a Nigerian HR and payroll startup, has secured $1.8 million in a seed funding round led by Accion Venture Lab. Existing investors including Zrosk, Chui Ventures, and Zedcrest Capital also participated in this round. The startup was founded in 2020 by Seye Bandele who is the CEO and Lekan Omotosho, CTO.
The startup is tackling one of the key gaps in Africa’s small and medium-sized business (SME) landscape by offering accessible, efficient HR and payroll services.
As Bandele explained in a recent interview with TechArena, Africa’s rapidly growing and youthful population requires better tools to make work and life easier.
“By 2050, about 600 million new jobs will need to be created across the continent,” Bandele noted. “Yet Africa’s productivity rates are among the lowest globally due to limited technology and infrastructure. Our goal is to build tools that automate HR processes so businesses can focus on strategic growth.”
With most SMEs relying on manual processes or expensive legacy solutions like Oracle or SAP, PaidHR saw an opportunity to build affordable, HR software tailored to the continent. The company’s all-in-one platform handles everything from employee onboarding, time-off management, performance reviews, payroll, and even regulatory compliance allowing small businesses to scale efficiently.
Beyond basic HR automation, PaidHR also addresses a critical issue in Africa’s labor market: limited access to credit. The company offers an earned wage access (EWA) feature allowing workers to withdraw part of their salary early without turning to predatory loans. Employees can also receive their pay in local currency or USD via PaidHR’s integrated multi-currency wallet.
“People who are paid on a regular salary still can’t access affordable credit,” Bandele said. “We help them take control of their earnings and provide financial services that make their lives better.”
PaidHR bootstrapped for two years before its first pre-seed round of $500,000, followed by $600,000 in a bridge round last year. Now, with its $1.8 million seed round, the company wants to deepen its presence across Africa.
“Our core market is still Nigeria, the largest workforce on the continent, but we’re already supporting companies across Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana,” Bandele added.
One key innovation driving their regional expansion is a cross-border payroll solution allowing businesses to pay employees across countries without establishing offices in those jurisdictions.
Investors were attracted to the company’s capital efficiency and its proven impact.
“Accion Venture Lab was impressed with the maturity of PaidHR’s technology, which is comparable to that of Series B companies,” Bandele said. “And with zero churn last year, we’ve proven that clients stick with us once they come on board.”
What’s Next for PaidHR?
The new funding will help PaidHR standardize its platform for global demand, grow its sales and marketing teams, and improve product features across existing and new markets.
“We aim to grow to over 1,000 businesses using our platform in the next two to three years,” Bandele noted. “That means empowering SMEs, improving productivity, and improving financial wellness across Africa.”
With a trusted tech stack built on AWS and Azure and a team focused on security, data privacy, and compliance, PaidHR is also pursuing ISO 27001 certification to further enhance its credibility.
“Our clients trust us with their most sensitive workforce data,” Omotosho said. “That’s why we built PaidHR on a foundation of robust and secure technology infrastructure.”
PaidHR’s long-term vision is to support the next generation of workers, including millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha, by providing tools that make work and financial stability easier.
“By investing in HR tech that is built for Africa, we can improve productivity at the most basic level and support millions of small businesses and their employees,” Bandele concluded.
With this round of funding and a strong product-market fit, PaidHR is positioned to be at the heart of Africa’s evolving workforce.
Also Read: How Kenya’s FaidiHR Is Solving Africa’s Payroll Chaos While Eyeing the $10 Billion Opportunity
