低調(diào)運(yùn)營兩年后,為企業(yè)薪資管理數(shù)字化提供軟件工具的初創(chuàng)公司Check,于當(dāng)?shù)?月27日宣布在最新一輪融資中募集了3500萬美元。
該輪融資由風(fēng)投公司Thrive Capital和數(shù)字支付巨頭Stripe領(lǐng)投,但并未披露公司估值。
Check融資總額在該輪融資后達(dá)到了4400萬美元。
Stripe的參與格外引人注目,因?yàn)镃heck借鑒了Stripe為數(shù)字化經(jīng)濟(jì)構(gòu)建支付基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的戰(zhàn)略。區(qū)別在于Stripe協(xié)助企業(yè)在線接收信用卡支付,而Check主要打通薪酬管理與快速增長的企業(yè)管理軟件工具。Check的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官安德魯?布朗和團(tuán)隊(duì)大部分成員此前供職于電子書初創(chuàng)公司Oyster,2015年被谷歌收購。
Check進(jìn)入的行業(yè)已相當(dāng)擁擠。獨(dú)立薪資和人力資源軟件,如ADP和Workday,已在企業(yè)廣泛使用。成立于2012年的薪資管理平臺(tái)Gusto表示,其客戶已有10萬。Square跟Check類似,都面對(duì)小企業(yè),已經(jīng)為企業(yè)提供結(jié)合銷售和工時(shí)單功能的薪資服務(wù)。
但據(jù)布朗稱,Check專注的是小眾且并未獲得良好服務(wù)的公司,這樣一來開發(fā)人員更容易將薪資管理功能集成到更多軟件中。
許多商用軟件包服務(wù)的都是特定類別的小企業(yè),如水管工、沙龍或咖啡店等。其中一些業(yè)務(wù)管理工具,如餐飲管理軟件Toast,已經(jīng)包含了薪資管理功能。但布朗表示,薪資管理數(shù)字化相當(dāng)復(fù)雜,涉及在不同司法管轄區(qū)為員工自動(dòng)代扣稅款等等,如果開發(fā)者目標(biāo)市場較小,從頭開始開發(fā)相關(guān)功能太困難也太昂貴。
“試想一下瑜伽館或健身房日常運(yùn)營使用的軟件,”布朗說,“他們可以管理員工人數(shù),通過軟件預(yù)定課程,接受客戶付款。但實(shí)際上無法完成薪資管理,最終還是需要將數(shù)據(jù)導(dǎo)出到其他工具里。”
Check則能解決核心問題,能更方便地將薪資管理添加到管理軟件中。布朗說,Check除了能完成稅額計(jì)算并將稅款轉(zhuǎn)給對(duì)應(yīng)的稅務(wù)員,還能利用系統(tǒng)服務(wù)生成納稅申報(bào)表。
Check稱,按商業(yè)用戶數(shù)向大多數(shù)客戶收取固定費(fèi)用,再加上按領(lǐng)取薪酬的員工數(shù)收取費(fèi)用。
Stripe的在線支付平臺(tái)與之模式大致相似,過去十年里已成長為市值高達(dá)1000億美元的私營巨頭。但按美元計(jì)算,Check的市場比Stripe的還要大。根據(jù)摩根大通的數(shù)據(jù),Stripe的主要收入來源是美國在線信用卡和借記卡支付,2019年總額為3487億美元。根據(jù)美國勞工統(tǒng)計(jì)局的數(shù)據(jù), Check專注的薪資管理業(yè)務(wù)在美國的年交易額接近9萬億美元,Stripe的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn),四分之三的企業(yè)都使用方便本行業(yè)薪酬管理的管理軟件。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:梁宇
審校:夏林
低調(diào)運(yùn)營兩年后,為企業(yè)薪資管理數(shù)字化提供軟件工具的初創(chuàng)公司Check,于當(dāng)?shù)?月27日宣布在最新一輪融資中募集了3500萬美元。
該輪融資由風(fēng)投公司Thrive Capital和數(shù)字支付巨頭Stripe領(lǐng)投,但并未披露公司估值。
Check融資總額在該輪融資后達(dá)到了4400萬美元。
Stripe的參與格外引人注目,因?yàn)镃heck借鑒了Stripe為數(shù)字化經(jīng)濟(jì)構(gòu)建支付基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的戰(zhàn)略。區(qū)別在于Stripe協(xié)助企業(yè)在線接收信用卡支付,而Check主要打通薪酬管理與快速增長的企業(yè)管理軟件工具。Check的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官安德魯?布朗和團(tuán)隊(duì)大部分成員此前供職于電子書初創(chuàng)公司Oyster,2015年被谷歌收購。
Check進(jìn)入的行業(yè)已相當(dāng)擁擠。獨(dú)立薪資和人力資源軟件,如ADP和Workday,已在企業(yè)廣泛使用。成立于2012年的薪資管理平臺(tái)Gusto表示,其客戶已有10萬。Square跟Check類似,都面對(duì)小企業(yè),已經(jīng)為企業(yè)提供結(jié)合銷售和工時(shí)單功能的薪資服務(wù)。
但據(jù)布朗稱,Check專注的是小眾且并未獲得良好服務(wù)的公司,這樣一來開發(fā)人員更容易將薪資管理功能集成到更多軟件中。
許多商用軟件包服務(wù)的都是特定類別的小企業(yè),如水管工、沙龍或咖啡店等。其中一些業(yè)務(wù)管理工具,如餐飲管理軟件Toast,已經(jīng)包含了薪資管理功能。但布朗表示,薪資管理數(shù)字化相當(dāng)復(fù)雜,涉及在不同司法管轄區(qū)為員工自動(dòng)代扣稅款等等,如果開發(fā)者目標(biāo)市場較小,從頭開始開發(fā)相關(guān)功能太困難也太昂貴。
“試想一下瑜伽館或健身房日常運(yùn)營使用的軟件,”布朗說,“他們可以管理員工人數(shù),通過軟件預(yù)定課程,接受客戶付款。但實(shí)際上無法完成薪資管理,最終還是需要將數(shù)據(jù)導(dǎo)出到其他工具里。”
Check則能解決核心問題,能更方便地將薪資管理添加到管理軟件中。布朗說,Check除了能完成稅額計(jì)算并將稅款轉(zhuǎn)給對(duì)應(yīng)的稅務(wù)員,還能利用系統(tǒng)服務(wù)生成納稅申報(bào)表。
Check稱,按商業(yè)用戶數(shù)向大多數(shù)客戶收取固定費(fèi)用,再加上按領(lǐng)取薪酬的員工數(shù)收取費(fèi)用。
Stripe的在線支付平臺(tái)與之模式大致相似,過去十年里已成長為市值高達(dá)1000億美元的私營巨頭。但按美元計(jì)算,Check的市場比Stripe的還要大。根據(jù)摩根大通的數(shù)據(jù),Stripe的主要收入來源是美國在線信用卡和借記卡支付,2019年總額為3487億美元。根據(jù)美國勞工統(tǒng)計(jì)局的數(shù)據(jù), Check專注的薪資管理業(yè)務(wù)在美國的年交易額接近9萬億美元,Stripe的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn),四分之三的企業(yè)都使用方便本行業(yè)薪酬管理的管理軟件。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:梁宇
審校:夏林
Check, a startup building software tools for digitizing business payrolls, emerged from two years in stealth mode this morning with the announcement that it has raised $35 million in a fresh funding round.
The round was led by investments from Thrive Capital and the digital payments giant Stripe. No valuation for the startup was disclosed.
With this new round, the startup has raised a total of $44 million.
Stripe’s participation is notable, since Check is drawing from Stripe’s strategy of building payments infrastructure for the increasingly digital economy. While Stripe helps businesses to accept credit card payments online, Check is focused on connecting payroll systems with the fast-growing array of software tools for managing businesses. Check cofounder and CEO Andrew Brown, and much of his team, were previously behind the ebook startup Oyster, which was acquired by Google in 2015.
Check will be entering a fairly crowded field. Standalone payroll and HR software, such as ADP and Workday, is already widely used by enterprises. The digital payroll platform Gusto, founded in 2012, says it has 100,000 clients. And Square, which shares its focus on small business with Check, already offers payroll services that integrate with its sales and timesheet features.
But according to Brown, his company is focused on a niche not well-served by established players: making it easier for developers to integrate payroll features into a wider variety of software.
Many business software packages cater to specific categories of small business, such as plumbers, salons, or coffee shops. Some of these business management tools, such as the restaurant software Toast, already include payroll features. But Brown says the complexity of digitizing payroll, including the need to automate tax withholding for employees in various jurisdictions, makes building those features from the ground up too difficult and expensive for developers with smaller target markets.
“Imagine a yoga studio or a gym and the software that runs their business,” says Brown. “They have the ability to manage the number of people on staff, to book classes through the software, to accept payments from customers. But they can’t actually complete payroll, so they end up having to export that data and do it elsewhere.”
Check makes adding payroll to management software easier by handling its most challenging elements. In addition to tax calculations and transferring funds to the appropriate tax collectors, Brown says Check handles the filing of tax forms for services built using its system.
Most of Check's customers pay a flat fee per business user, plus a charge based on the number of employees being paid, Check said.
Using a broadly similar model for its online payments platform, Stripe has grown over the past decade into a private giant valued at as much as $100 billion. But by dollar volume, Check’s market is even bigger than Stripe’s. U.S. online credit and debit card payments, Stripe’s bread and butter, totaled $348.7 billion in 2019, according J.P. Morgan. Payroll, where Check is focused, is close to $9 trillion annual volume in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and a study by Stripe found that three out of four businesses use the sort of industry-specific management software its payroll tools are designed to work with.