Papaya Global completes $250MM Series D Round led by Insight Partners, valuing the company at $3.7BN
Only fifteen months since Group 11’s strategic initial investment, a year since the Series B led by Scale Venture Partners, and six months since the Series C led by Greenoaks Capital, Group 11 is pleased to announce today that Papaya Global has completed a $250MM Series D round led by Insight Partners and joined by Tiger Global.
This raise values the company at $3.7BN and moves Papaya further to the top of the Global List of Tech Unicorns, cementing its position in Group 11’s continuously-growing stable of now 7 unicorns.
While Insight led the round and Tiger joined as a new investor, Group 11 and other existing investors also participated, including: Greenoaks Capital, IVP, Scale Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Alkeon Capital, Workday Ventures, and Access Industries.
One powerful lesson we learned from this experience: never underestimate the potential of exponential growth when there is proven product-market fit. This is what has happened with Papaya Global since Group 11’s first investment in early 2020. Although we had predicted some of Papaya’s initial product-market fit, verified the continued growth, and spoke about the paradigm shift in the workplace, our heads are still spinning at how fast it has all occurred.
As previously shared, after only a few months into the 2020 COVID pandemic, there was a complete shift in how businesses operate and manage their offices and employees globally. The back-office (accounting, HR, audit, operations, etc.) suddenly had to be streamlined and automated, and it had to happen as soon as possible. The foundations of a decentralized workplace had to be built in the most efficient way it could in a remote world: digitally.
How suddenly did companies digitize in 2020 and 2021? How quickly would this digital transition of the office and workforce occur? Well, according to Papaya’s KPIs, the answer was only a few months. Their product and digital Human Resource Management Systems (‘HRIS’) platform was perfectly positioned going into 2020. Papaya’s revenue grew >220% year over year, employees on the platform grew >200%, customers 150%, while Papaya’s headcount only doubled. When it comes to digitizing the workforce and back office, there is no alternative. Papaya’s exponential growth is nothing but a mere reflection of the market demand.
To predict that this digital transition of the workforce could start gradually, then exponentially accelerate at such a pace and in a window of 18 months, no one could have accurately foreseen. But it is happening; and Papaya is leading the transformation. All numbers and trajectories point to this only accelerating even further, and Papaya will effectively lead the pack and continuously grow with it.
Congratulations to Co-founders Ofer Herman, Eynat Guez, Ruben Drong, all of Papaya’s investors, and the entire Papaya Global team!
