Nigerian HR startup, SeamlessHR, has raised a new round of funding in a bid to drive pan-African expansion.
Founded in 2018 by Dr Emmanuel Okeleji, SeamlessHR started off as a tracking system used for job applications. Called SeamlessHiring at the time, it helped companies review applications and in the process, select the qualified candidates for particular roles.
The system morphed into what it currently is now — an enterprise-grade, cloud-based human resource management software — after several iterations per the requests of its first set of customers.
SeamlessHR helps medium to large-sized companies automate and optimize their entire HR process from recruitment to retirement.
Last year, the Lagos-based startup received a pre-seed investment from Tofino Capital. An early-stage investor particularly interested in emerging market B2B or enterprise tech companies, Tofino Capital was said to have invested $150k for not more than a 10% stake in the startup.
Boasting of impressive clientele in Nigeria and Ghana like Coronation Bank, Lagos Business School, NIBSS, Providus Bank, PwC, Sterling Bank, Wema Bank, and over a hundred more medium to large-sized corporates across multiple industries, SeamlessHR is now setting its sights to companies in other African countries.
According to Okeleji, the startup’s CEO, SeamlessHR wants to build Africa’s Workday. And for that to happen, the company will use its new round of funding to optimize its product suite and aggressively drive pan-African expansion.
“We have what we can call the first-mover advantage in the enterprise HR cloud SaaS space in Africa. This round of funding will help us consolidate on this advantage and scale operations quickly across the continent.”
This round, which is most likely a seed round, was led by US-based Lateral Capital and Lagos-based Consonance Investment Managers. Other investors that participated include Ingressive Capital and Kenyan-based Enza Capital.
Rob Elof who is the Managing Partner at Lateral Capital had this to say about the investment.
“In Emmanuel and Deji, we see two highly talented and experienced founders that have surrounded themselves with talent and have thoughtfully created a product suite and culture that will enable success in building Africa’s own WorkDay and more. Lateral Capital is thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of this journey.”
Managing Partner at Consonance Investment Managers, Mobolaji Adeoye bears a similar sentiment. According to him, the round suggests that the company has a chance to achieve significant scale.
“SeamlessHR has the team composition and chemistry required for success. Their early commitment to gaining real product and technology advantages sealed the deal for us. We are proud to be a part of their journey,” he says.
Alongside Tofino Capital, SeamlessHR reveals that Abuja-based VC firm, Ventures Platform, and other local Nigerian angel investors had previously written checks to them.
Across the other side of West Africa with a similar pan-African expansion plan is Kenyan HR startup, Workpay. Backed by Y Combinator and other prominent institutional investors, Workpay raised $2.1m from the US-based seed-stage accelerator and lead investor, Kepple Africa in August.
With SeamlessHR in Nigeria and Ghana (West Africa) and Workpay in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania (East Africa), it’ll be interesting to see how they square up in a bid to dominate sub-Saharan Africa and build Africa’s Workday.
NEW REPORT ALERT: “Millionaire West African startups” raised over $1.806 billion between 2010 and 2019, 97.9% of which went to Nigerian startups. Find out more in the full report.
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