Namely, Human Resources in the Cloud, Raises $45 Million in Round Led by Sequoia

Namely, a New York based company that offers a cloud-based package of human resource applications, today will announce it has taken a $45 million Series C investment led by Sequoia.

Prior investors Matrix Partners, True Ventures, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Greenspring Global Partners also participated, bringing Namely’s total capital raised to nearly $78 million.

While there has already been a lot of disruption in the once-sleepy world of HR software, Namely CEO Matt Straz says his company targets the mid-market. That means companies of about 200 employees that are too big for Zenefits and too small for Workday.

Namely’s customers use the application to run payroll, track time off, manage health insurance and track employee reviews and promotions. It also has a social component for collaborating on projects and sharing information across a company.

“We set out to imagine what a new HR platform for growing companies would look like,” Straz said. It now has 250 customers operating in 20 countries, tracks some 40,000 employees and processes more than $1 billion in paychecks a year.

Straz previously ran Pictela, an advertising platform that he sold to AOL in 2011. He started Namely in 2012.

“Most people don’t like using HR systems, and they may use them maybe twice a year, when they enroll for their benefits and then to download their tax forms,” Straz said. “We set out to create something that people would use every business day.”

Namely is often compared to Zenefits. Like Zenefits, Namely is a licensed insurance broker in all 50 states. But Namely charges for its benefits software, unlike Zenefits, which offers its software for free, a practice that has angered the insurance industry.

Namely also allows its customers to continue working with their existing brokers. “We can be the broker if they want us to, but some appreciate a lighter touch,” Straz said.

Correction: We initially used old figures for Namely’s number of customers and the total number of employees on its system, and have updated them with fresh figures.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via