How Personio Is Helping European SMEs Unlock HR’s Productive Potential

How Personio’s mission to Enable Better Organizations has been bolstered by a recent $125M Series D funding round, and its plans to address the challenges facing the future of HR.

For many companies, 2020 was a year of rapid and unexpected change. Amongst remote work and organizational restructuring, though, one thing was made clear: strategic HR is more imperative than ever, especially when it comes to making a difference in the lives of employees.

After all, organizations thrive when their employees do. That’s why a company like Personio, which doubled in size in 2020 alone, is on their own mission to help European SMEs unlock their productive potential by digitizing and automating people processes.

And, venture capital noticed...

In early 2021, Personio announced their raising of $125M (US dollars) in a Series D funding round. This also led to a $1.7B valuation, officially making this European company a unicorn and the most valuable HR software company on the continent.

It was also a financing round led by their existing investor Index Ventures. They come equipped with their own track record of success, having accompanied other software companies such as Slack, Dropbox, and Zendesk, to their own IPOs.

In addition, other existing investors Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, Global Founders Capital, and Picus also participated. Meritech Capital also participated for the first time as a co-lead investor.

But, big news like this is merely one step in the journey of Personio -- both to this point, and where they plan on going...

The Personio Story

Based in Munich, Madrid, London, and Dublin, Personio’s mission is to make HR processes as transparent and efficient as possible. This way, HR can focus on their most valuable asset: people. Personio’s HR solution encompasses areas including recruiting, onboarding, and absence management to support every core HR process businesses require.

More than 3,000 customers, in over 80 countries, rely on Personio to make their HR tasks easier. This allows them to focus on strategic initiatives, to drive change in businesses, and to play a role in its success. But, thanks to this aforementioned capital, they have big plans ahead.

Personio’s plan is to invest further in their recently-entered European markets. This includes Spain, the UK, the Nordics, and Benelux, while doubling their teams across each and every one of these regions, at the same time.

In the words of Personio’s CEO and Co-Founder, Hanno Renner, “HR offers an emphasis on people that leads to corporate success. When companies give their HR departments the freedom to work strategically, only then can they be truly successful...For this to work, we need to truly rethink the way HR is done.”

Hanno Renner, Personio’s CEO and Co-Founder

Personio & the Future of HR

The future of HR is unlikely to look anything like the world pre-pandemic, and will also involve an evolution from where things currently stand. For that reason, companies will need to grapple with how they decide to live and thrive in this ‘new normal’.

It starts with digitization. Companies that have relied on paper, or unstructured digital, processes will need to look ahead, take charge, and make a change. That means digitizing the way they work and doing so with purpose and intent.

That involves giving HR professionals the tools they need to focus their efforts on creating value for employees. After all, HR can only be strategic once it excels at operations.

That’s why this is merely one step in a much larger journey for Personio. Having already helped over 3,000 HR teams across Europe, there are approximately 1.2M SMEs (of 10 employees or more) who haven’t yet invested in digitizing their HR and still need a solution.

One thing is for certain: the industry is changing, and fast. Companies like Personio are at the forefront, with ambitious plans to build a solution that helps HR teams, and organizations at large, unlock their productive potential.

Visit Personio’s website and book a web demo to get to know their product and vision today.