PayrollPanda raises seed round of US$700k

PayrollPanda raises seed round of US$700K

By Digital News Asia June 26, 2018

Will remain focused on Malaysia until at least early 2019
Target 20,000 paying customers in Malaysia in five years

PayrollPanda raises seed round of US$700K

PAYROLLPANDA, a HR and payroll SaaS targeted at MalaysianSMEs has closed a further US$700,000 (RM2.8 million) in seed funding. Most of the investment came from two family offices based in the UK and Saudi Arabia.

PayrollPanda’s wider plans are to launch in other markets regionally but it will remain focused on Malaysia until at least early 2019.

PayrollPanda co-founder & CEO Toine Vaessen, commented “I am confident we will achieve our target of 20,000 paying customers in Malaysia in five years. We want to first make sure we nail Malaysia, to hammer home our existing lead in the space here, before we look elsewhere.

“It’s great to see Malaysian SMEs embrace cloud technology. Apart from saving time and ensuring statutory compliance we make payroll simple. The new funding allows us to further enhance the product and focus on HR automation from onboarding, to time & attendance, claims and more.

“We are looking to double our current team, half of whom work remotely and outside Malaysia, to around 40 by the end of this year.”

PayrollPanda came out Malaysia-based venture builder, LaunchPad.

LaunchPad CEO Asim Qureshi, added, “Our revenues, number of customers, and growth rate are uncannily similar to New Zealand’s Xero soon after they IPO’d 11 years ago. That’s a great sign. This funding will keep us going until the end of the year before which we’ll be looking to raise again.”

Norhizam Kadir, vice president, Growth Ecosystem Development of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) said, “We are excited to see PayrollPanda’s traction which affirms that Malaysia hosts great entrepreneurs who are the backbone of the startup ecosystem.

“MDEC is committed to continue building the Malaysian ecosystem by putting the right infrastructure, regulations and business network for startups and venture builders to leverage on.”