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In April 2016, Firmin Zocchetto, Ghislain de Fontenay and Florian Fournier launched a new business proposition on the French market, Payfit, with the dream of revolutionising and simplifying payroll and HR processes in companies.

This application, which intuitively and automatically streamlines payroll and HR management for SMEs,  arrived in Spain two years later. This solution, which contributes to the digital transformation of human resources, saves time for HR managers, provides an online space for employees, and is complemented by career counselling for users.

 

At present, Spain remains the company's second largest market in terms of turnover. After the recent financing round in which it raised 254 million euros, the company is going to reinforce its presence in Barcelona with a new office in the 22@ district, where it plans to hire more than a hundred new employees.

 

 

Payfit arrived in Spain in April 2018. What was your objective?

Following the launch of PayFit in France in 2015, PayFit soon expanded into Spain,  where it became one of its main markets, and subsequently to Germany and the UK. PayFit Spain aims to be the human resources solution for all Spanish SMEs. The expansion of the PayFit team, especially following the latest funding round of 254 million euros, has involved hiring senior managers for key business functions spanning technology, finance and operations, among others, aiming to achieve the goal by scaling PayFit's growth in all of its markets.

 

You joined a year later, what was your mission?

Before my arrival, we focused on developing the platform by adapting it to local law, and to the main Spanish collective bargaining agreements. Once we have acquired our first clients, my role as country manager of PayFit Spain consists of three pillars: leading the PayFit Spain team, defining an efficient growth strategy that puts the client at the centre, and optimising the economic resources that the company makes available to us so that this growth is healthy and sustainable.

 

What is the profile of your clients in Spain?

Spanish SMEs. At PayFit we have client companies from different sectors, of different sizes and with different profiles. The pandemic has made it clear that digitisation is mandatory for companies. We help Spanish SMEs to digitise one of the most important parts of their business: labour management, from payroll to human resources.

 

How have you developed since 2018?

PayFit's ongoing growth is remarkable. Our brand awareness in Spain has grown a lot, with well-known clients such as Getir, Treatwell, Tiger, Yego, Big Mama Group, Jobandtalent and the Flaix Group. This is also due to the evolution of the technology solution, as well as improvements in our employment consultancy service. The healthcare crisis has in addition turned digitalisation[UdW1]  into a real competitive advantage for our SMEs, and convinced more managers. But there are still millions of SMEs that want to go digital. The market is huge, and our ambition remains the same: to become a benchmark in labour and human resources management for these SMEs. We firmly believe that digitalisation will be an essential lever in the post-crisis recovery of the economy.

 

What investment has Payfit made in Spain?

Spain was the first country where PayFit decided to go international, and it is its second largest market by turnover. Investing in the growth potential that exists in the Spanish market has led the PayFit management to establish different strategies to meet market expectations in Spain. The company is focusing on 2022 with the aim of offering an improved solution that will enable us to triple our revenues in Spain. The development of new functionalities that are in high demand on the market, such as digital signatures, new human resources modules for employee well-being and performance appraisals, automated payroll creation that is even more intuitive, and new functionalities with other human resources SaaS solutions will enable the company to meet the new customer needs that it has identified. Today we have 117 PayFiters working in the Barcelona office, and we have created new job opportunities in order to meet the targets set, and to reach 200 employees by the end of 2022.

 

How are you going to invest the 254 million euros you have just received?

PayFit will leverage its Series E funding round to deepen its penetration of existing markets, invest in its core automated payroll software, and further expand its human resource management solution. We are committed to human capital as the engine of growth, so it will be necessary to have a new office to welcome the more than one hundred new employees who will be joining the company in Spain during 2022 and in order to be able to deliver what we expect in terms of products and service.

 

    

 

What infrastructure do you currently have in Spain?

When the market was opened up in Spain, we decided to open an office in Barcelona. Following our financing round, we launched a recruitment programme in Spain that includes the hiring more than one hundred people in all the teams over the course of 2022, especially in customer service and product departments. To accommodate all the new employees, we will be opening a new office during the course of the year. This covers more than 4,500 square metres in the Glories area of Barcelona, in the StepUp building in the 22@ district, one of the favourite areas for large international scaleups.

 

What are the next challenges?

On the one hand, our objective is to continue adapting the platform to the new labour needs created by  institutions, as is the case with the labour reform. On the other hand, we will continue to complement the solution with enhancements to the absence, leave, and professional expenses module, the launch of a new space for performance appraisals, and other features and functionalities to be launched in 2022 to meet all customer needs.

 

^{Photo: Payfit}