Barcelona-based Human Resources management software startup Factorial raises €2.8 million with the aim of conquering labor management in Spain and the world.
Factorial offers its human resources tool free of charge to more than 20,000 companies throughout Spain. In addition to a comprehensive work management plan, which includes the generation of payroll, labor counseling and flexible compensation plans and benefits — all under a subscription model through a manager fully integrated into its platform.
The latest round of financing was backed by international funds Creandum and Point Nine Capital (investors of companies such as Spotify and Typeform, respectively), and Spain’s K Fund.
Iñaki Arrola
“Since we launched K Fund in July 2016 we have made a significant commitment to SaaS companies, which account for more than half of our portfolio, and also for startups based in Barcelona and Factorial fits as a ring in our investment strategy,” said Iñaki Arrola, general partner of K Fund, in a statement.
“The ease with which they [Factorial] solve a problem as complex as labor management seemed simply spectacular,” he added.
Factorial was born as the initiative of three engineers: Jordi Romero, Bernat Farrero and Pau Ramón, who, after taking part in the management of different technology companies, decided to create another way to carry out labor administration and people management.
In any company, but especially with SMEs, people are the key to the proper functioning and achievement of business objectives.
Jordi Romero
However, “More than 85% of companies outsource this key function to an agency and lose control of their own information,” said the Factorial CEO.
“In addition, they allocate part of their scarce resources to administrative management, which does not provide any value, instead of dedicating this time to developing their people,” added Romero.
Factorial is looking to disrupt the current labor paradigm. The cloud-based tool not only converts payrolls and employment contracts into a children’s game that everyone can understand, but also automates the process while connecting directly with public administrations and allowing managers and labor experts to interact and draw conclusions in real time.
“We realized that companies with less than 200 workers do not have the tools to solve their personnel problems,” said Romero, adding, “the problems of this type of company tend to be the incorporation of new people, their training, the establishment and management of variable compensation plans or objectives, the control and management of time, vacations, sick leave and overtime, etc.”
Just over a year since its founding, Factorial has managed to make a dent in the day to day of more than 10,000 customers thanks to the free features of its software. The program allows managing absences and vacations of employees, their benefits and even, more recently, the management and creation of contracts and payroll in a few clicks — all with the ease of storing it in the cloud.
The Barcelona-based HR management software startup’s objectives are to lead labor management in Spain in a completely different way than has been done until now, “and then conquer the world” in the words of the CEO.
