Pento Series-A

This is the Pento pitch deck to raise a $15.6m series-a round in 2021.

About

Pento provides a SaaS-based online platform intended to optimize payroll services. Its platform helps to automate the payroll system and offers complementary features to employees, such as user-friendly access to pay history and personal pay-related data, enabling small and medium-sized companies to find a digital way to automate salary processing, and taxes and is fully connected to HMRC.

Payroll automation startup Pento has raised $15.6 million in Series A funding.

The Danish startup, which was founded in 2017,  provides software to businesses to automate their payroll processes. Traditionally, companies outsource payroll which can be cumbersome and expensive, according to Pento CEO Jonas Bøgh Larsen.

“Generally the problem is that the vast majority of companies outsource their payroll to an accountant and this was perceived as the best option, you outsourced responsibility,” he told Insider. “The problem is you still have to send a lot of emails, spreadsheets, documents and this is something we are solving.”

The round was led by US venture capital firm General Catalyst, with participation from US firm Avid Ventures and the UK’s LocalGlobe. Existing investors Point Nine Capital, Moonfire Ventures, Hustle Fund, and Seedcamp also took part.

“We set out to start fundraising in May, that was the original plan but we had a lot of inbound interest from US VCs,” Bøgh Larsen added. “We had really good momentum from having our best-ever month in December, then again in January and February so we decided to utilize that momentum to raise now.”

Pento claims to have supported more than 700 businesses to date including companies like Lacoste and hospitality brand Honest Burgers. The startup has around 30 employees across a variety of cities but will triple its headcount by the end of 2021.

The round is also notable for the bevvy of angel investors involved. Interesting names include Stripe’s Thairu and Diede van Lamoen, former Monzo CEO Tom Blomfield, GoCardless’s Matt Robinson, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, Cuvva’s Freddy Macnamara, and Intercom’s Des Traynor, among others.

“Despite being so business-critical, payroll is one of the least digitally advanced services across the globe,” said Adam Valkin, managing director at General Catalyst.

“It’s also one that has garnered a reputation for being too complex, too convoluted and too out of reach for those who aren’t payroll specialists, leading many to consider expensive outsourcing as the only route to go.”

Valkin said Pento’s tech “dispels this myth” and that it was built purely with HR and finance teams in mind.

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