Rippling nabs $145M at a $1.35B valuation to build out its all-in-one platform for employee data

[NelsonG]

Big news today in the world of enterprise IT startups. Rippling, the startup founded by Parker Conrad to take on the ambitious challenge of building a platform to manage all aspects of employee data, from payroll and benefits through to device management, has closed $145 million in funding — a monster Series B that catapults the company to a valuation of $1.35 billion.

It is a big leap for the company: it was just a little over a year ago that it raised $45 million at a valuation of $270 million.

This latest round is a testament not only to the interest among investors and customers to put big bets on platforms that are making a consolidating play on a market that has otherwise suffered from a lot of fragmentation; but it is also a testament to how investors are putting a big bet on Conrad himself, who was ousted from his previous company, Zenefits (taking on a related, but smaller, challenge in payroll and benefits), over misleading investors and the company itself.

This latest round included Greenoaks Capital, Coatue Management, and Bedrock Capital, as well as existing investors including Kleiner Perkins, Initialized Capital, and Y Combinator. Founders Fund partner Napoleon Ta will join Rippling’s board of directors. Founders Fund had also backed Zenefits when Parker was at the helm, and from what we understand this round was oversubscribed — also a big feat in the current market, working against a lot of factors including a wobbling economy.

“Rippling is not just a superior payroll company, but something much broader: they’ve built the system of record for all employee data, creating an entirely new software category. Rippling’s massive market opportunity is to streamline the employee lifecycle, from software to payroll to benefits, and fundamentally improve the way businesses hire and manage their employees,” said Ta in a statement.

“Once you’re lucky, twice you’re good,” said Mamoon Hamid, Partner, Kleiner Perkins, in a separate statement. “Parker is a true product visionary, and he and his team are solving an enormous pain point for businesses everywhere. We’re thrilled to continue partnering with Rippling as demand for their platform dramatically increases in this era of remote work.”

We’re talking with Conrad in a bit and will update the post with more then.

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