After raising nearly CHF 1 million, Earny an automated payroll application for SMEs and startups in Switzerland

The $1 million investment is backed by Polytech Ventures, ACE & Company, and Fusion Partners and has been used to accelerate the launch of the public beta version of Earny in SaaS mode.Earny which went live in November 2021.

"In Switzerland, SMEs can choose to manage payroll themselves or work with an accountant, but both processes are problematic," says co-founder Bassil Eid. "SMEs that work with accountants spend an average of two hours per month collecting payroll data. SMEs that do it themselves need help with every payroll change because Swiss payroll software does not guide the user."

Earny platformEarny anyone within an SME to manage payroll without prior payroll knowledge. If the SME works with an accountant, it invites them onto the platform to share data securely and transparently, saving an average of CHF 150 in accounting costs.

"We were inspired by an American payroll startup called Gusto, which raised $175 million in August 2021 for a valuation of $10 billion and claiming 200,000 SME customers," says Guillaume Dubray, CEO of Polytech Ventures. "In Switzerland, we have nearly 600,000 SMEs that employ 3 million Swiss residents. In addition, 45,000 new SMEs are created each year. Today alone, 137 new SMEs were created," he adds.

On average, SMEs pay between CHF 25 and CHF 50 per employee per month to manage payroll with an accountant. This cost is usually included in a broader set of accounting services billed annually. "For our accounting firm, payroll is quite administrative, and we spend a lot of time collecting data via email or shared spreadsheets and then re-entering it into our software. With Earny, we can save time and no longer have to wait passively for data," says Sven Roost, managing partner of the accounting firm Infeas.

Earny founded in May 2021 and has already obtained Swissdec Lohnstandard-CH (ELM) 4.0 certification for its payroll application by purchasing the Mega Salaires product, to which Eid responded: "It usually takes two years to launch a payroll application in Switzerland and obtain Swissdec ELM certification. We purchased an existing Swissdec ELM-certified application, Mega Salaires, and are using it as a basis to focus on redesigning the user interface. The entire Earny solution Earny yet fully ELM-certified. We are aiming for certification according to the Lohnstandard-CH (ELM) 5.0 standard and have an excellent starting point thanks to the acquisition of Mega Salaires." Swissdec guarantees that payroll software can accurately calculate payroll in all employee situations. It is the silver standard for payroll software.

In November 2021, Earny access to its solution to all customers in order to gather feedback and improve the product. By the first quarter of 2022, Earny incorporated all of this feedback and will offer a more refined product that aims to simplify and automate many of the tedious payroll tasks performed today.