Cloud-based HR management platform HeavenHR closes €6M Series A

HeavenHR, a cloud-based HR management platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has closed €6 million in Series A funding. Leading the round in the Berlin-based startup are Target Global, and Open Ocean.

HeavenHR, which is just 10 months old, says the new financing will be used to continue building out the product and to accelerate growth. The company is currently active in Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland,

Operating a rather subtle freemium model, the HR platform’s core functions, such as digital contracts, electronic personnel files, absence management and time tracking are free (similar to London’s CharlieHR), but HeavenHR charges for additional services such as payroll, benefits, pension and insurance management.

The pension aspect is reminiscent of London/Tel Aviv-based Hibob, which recently launched with $7.5 million in backing in a round led by Silicon Valley VC Bessemer Venture Partners.

There’s a lot of money to made in workplace pension enrollment by effectively operating as a pension broker, and a new breed of HR management startups are piggybacking pensions and, similarly, insurance. Come for the cloud-based HR tools, stay for the pensions and insurance, seems to be the mantra.

“Since we offer a pretty comprehensive product, we have many competitors in various fields,” says HeavenHR MD Johannes Roggendorf.

“On top of competitors such as paper forms and Excel, we have the old-fashioned payroll-only providers, traditional HR software companies whose products either lack in functionality or ease-of-use, and modern HR software companies that often offer limited features”.

And, on the insurance and pension side, Roggendorf says HeavenHR competes with offline and online brokers, but is at an advantage because the platform integrates various HR processes.

“With us, you can hire a new employee in 4 minutes. You also have the option of automatically enrolling your new hire in payroll, pension and insurance plans within just a few clicks,” he says.