London-based employee benefits platform, Ben, announced on Wednesday that it has secured $16M (approximately €15.7M) in a Series A round of funding led by Atomico. The latest round brings the total funding raised by the company to $21M (approximately €20.6M).
Cherry Ventures, DN Capital, Seedcamp, as well as HR and FinTech founders and angels, including Ross Seychell (Chief People Officer, Personio), Phil Chambers and Neil Ryland (Peakon CEO and CRO), and Job van der Voort (Remote CEO and founder), participated in the round.
Atomico’ Partner Sasha Vidiborskiy will join Ben’s board as part of the investment.
The UK company says it will use the funds to accelerate the development of its SaaS and payments technology and expand its global employer customer base.Â
Ben: What you need to know
Founded by Sebastian Fallert and David Duckworth in 2019, the company’s technology integrates accounting, HR, and Payroll systems to streamline all onboarding, enrollment, management, and offboarding processes.
Ben’s per-employee Ben Mastercard and flexible allowance function enable companies to set employee budgets and spending rules. The company is working with 150+ companies globally, from mid-sized, fully distributed companies to large enterprises.Â
According to Sebastian Fallert, the company brings together employee benefit support for Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z in one place.Â
“This is the first time in history that four generations coexist in the workforce simultaneously. Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z participate in a complex global economy, and their benefit requirements vary and fluctuate,” said Ben CEO and co-founder Sebastian Fallert. “Companies, many of whom are spending around 33 per cent of payroll on benefits, are reassessing their traditional benefits packages to fit more culturally and ethnically diverse teams distributed around the world.”
With its technology, the UK company aims to eradicate the challenging HR task of sourcing and managing a package relevant for an entire workforce or spending money on benefits that are stored in spreadsheets and never used.Â
Investor
Founded in 2006, Atomico invests in ambitious tech founders at Series A and beyond with a particular focus on Europe, leveraging deep operational experience to supercharge their growth.
Atomico has partnered with over 100 ambitious teams, including those at Klarna, Supercell, Graphcore, Compass, MessageBird, Masterclass, Attentive Mobile, Pipedrive, and Hinge Health.
The firm currently has $4B in assets under management.
“The challenge of managing benefits has become increasingly difficult for companies with a global workforce, especially given the ongoing war for top talent. Unfortunately, the status quo is ‘one-size-fits-most’ benefits packages that are managed in spreadsheets in an archaic and largely manual manner,” says Atomico Partner Sasha Vidiborskiy.
“Ben’s unique platform massively reduces the admin burden on HR and seamlessly delivers benefits that employees care about. This flexibility is crucial in the current macroeconomic environment, where company performance and productivity rely heavily on employee satisfaction and retention,” she adds.
