Accel leads $75m series-C for Personio

Harriet Matthews
21 January 2020

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Accel Ventures has led a $75m preemptive series-C round for Germany-based HR software developer Personio.

Lightspeed Venture Partners also participated in the round, along with business angel Lars Dalgaard and previous investors Index Ventures, Northzone Ventures, Global Founders Capital (GFC) and Picus Capital.

Harry Nelis, partner at Accel, will join Personio's board.

The fresh capital will be used to back the opening of a London office for clients in the UK and Ireland. It also aims to double its headcount to 700 in 2020.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported that Personio is also contemplating strategic acquisitions of companies involved in tech or software-based services in the HR segment. The company acquired Spain-based payroll service Rollbox in March 2019.

Mergermarket also reported that the company may seek an IPO in three to five years' time.

Accel backed the €260m series-C round for Germany-based Celonis in November 2019, as reported by Unquote. The GP is currently deploying from funds including Accel London VI, which held a final close in May 2019 on $575m. The vehicle generally writes equity cheques of $5-15m.

Previous funding
In July 2016, GFC and Picus backed a €2.1m seed round for Personio.

Northzone led a €10.5m series-A funding round for Personio in August 2017, with Participation from GFC and Picus.

In January 2019, Index led a $40m series-B round for the company, which saw further participation from Northzone and GFC.

Personio said in a statement that it has raised a total of $130m since its inception.

Company
Personio provides software that aims to digitise HR processes in SMEs, including processes such as attendance and performance tracking, and recruiting tools. Personio had 400 clients in 30 countries in 2017 and now claims to have 2,000 clients across more than 40 countries. Its client base includes Project A Ventures, HelloFresh, Freeletics and Raisin, according to its website.

The company is based in Munich and now has a London office. It was founded in 2015 and employs 350 staff. Personio's software sales have almost tripled in the past 12 months, according to a statement.

People
Personio – Hanno Reiner (co-founder and CEO).