Meet the German HR Honoree under 30 platform that raised just $ 125 million valued at $ 1.7 billion

German HR platform Personio, with 30 Under 30 honoree Hanno Renner, announced today that it has raised $ 125 million at a value of $ 1.7 billion. The Series D tour was led by mainstream investor Index Ventures, with all other investors at Personio Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, Global Founders Capital and Picus participating in the tour.

“We are democratizing human resource software for SMEs because most business software has historically focused on the enterprise companies,” says Renner, CEO of Personio. “These are very expensive solutions aimed at companies with 5,000, 10,000 or 50,000 employees.”

According to Renner, SMEs have not had the opportunity to implement quick and easy solutions, and have created what it calls an “HR operating system.”

“We’ve created a platform that will help them with everything in terms of their most important asset – the people,” Renner says. “These include covering the entire employee lifecycle which helps companies with the recruitment process, boarding the new employers, assisting them with contracts, manage their data, monitor time, improve, count vacation days, or monitor their performance. ”

Personio serves companies from 10 to 2,000 employees, although the average customer is about one hundred or several hundred employees. Personio has clients in 80 countries around the world, although their main focus is on Europe.

The software is membership based, so Personio generates revenue based on either the monthly or annual subscription that the clients have subscribed to. Personio is currently in double-digit annual recurring income (ARR), and has doubled in revenue since last year.

Renner and his cofounders, mostly known from the Technical University of Munich, started the business in 2015 in Munich. Two of the three coffins remain with the company: Arseniy Vershinin (chief technology officer) and Roman Schumacher (chief production officer). The company went on for a year and had 40 customers before they took a tour.

The company has donated 1% of its revenue and 15% of its own share to charitable causes.

“All investors, if they want to invest in Personio, have to sign that clause,” Renner says.

Renner says he plans to start the Personio foundation soon, that he plans to donate to causes ranging from education to climate change. Finally, he hopes to get into politics.

“There are not many leaders in the world like Obama, the kind of man who inspires people around the political agenda,” Renner says.

Prior to joining Personio, Renner, who holds a Master of Science degree and a degree from Columbia University, had earned a job as a yacht captain on yachts in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and Thailand.

“You really learn a lot about being a service leader when you’re a yacht captain,” Renner says.

Martin Mignot, a partner at Index Ventures who made this year’s Midas List of Europe’s top technical investors led the Series D investment round. According to Mignot, his company wanted to invest in Personio as soon as possible. and met the crew.

“The first meeting was one of the rarest in business,” says Mignot. ”It is quite obvious. It’s a great place, good founder, great team, less competition, they offer amazing results, customers are willing to pay for it, they pay More because Personio continues to add value to their businesses. ”

Today, the company has 580 employees and is headquartered in Munich. Personio raised a € 2.1 million seed cycle in 2016, a $ 12 million Series A in 2017 (led by Northzone), a $ 40 million Series B in 2019 (Index Ventures-led), and a $ 75 million Series C in 2020 in 2020 (led by Accel). To date, the company has raised over $ 250 million, making it the first HR tech unicorn in Europe.