Earny its seed funding round with the goal of automating payroll in Switzerland.

The funding round is backed by Polytech Ventures, ACE & Company, and Fusion Partners and will be used to accelerate the launch of the public beta version of Earny in SaaS mode.Earny in the fourth quarter of 2021. Earny to simplify and automate the payroll process by improving coordination between accountants, SMEs, and employees.

“Believe it or not, accountants, SMEs, and employees continue to send each other emails and Excel files containing sensitive payroll data. This data is then re-entered into payroll software, whether it be Abacus or Cresus,” says co-founder Bassil Eid. 

Earny platformEarny accountants, SMEs, and employees to securely enter data into a central platform that is automatically integrated with payroll,” he adds. “Our solution goes a step further by automating payroll on the 25th of each month if there are no changes from the previous month. Earny emails and offers online integration for onboarding companies and employees, tracking payroll changes such as working hours and leave, and a dashboard for accountants to manage all their clients. 

“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 people. In addition, 45,000 new SMEs are created every year. Today alone, 137 new SMEs were created."

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. Accountants hope to make payroll management profitable and achieve their margins on value-added services. "For our accounting firm, payroll is quite administrative. We collect data, enter it into software, and send it back. All of this is done manually with emails, Excel files, PDFs, and re-entry into our payroll tool. With Earny, we can save time and no longer wait idly for the data to arrive," says Sven Roost, managing partner at accounting firm Infeas.

The landscape of applications for SMEs in Switzerland is changing. "We are seeing strong verticalization in Switzerland with companies such as Ledgy, Yokoy, and others that show similarities with the US market," says Eid, who has worked as an interim CFO in the Bay Area using US applications for his clients.

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. In response to this, Eid said: "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 database so that we can focus on redesigning the user interface. The entire Earny solution Earny yet fully ELM certified. We are aiming for Lohnstandard-CH (ELM) 5.0 certification 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. This is the seal of quality for payroll software.

Earny currently Earny a private beta version with a group of innovative startups and SMEs. The Earny waiting list continues to grow in anticipation of its public beta release scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2021. This waiting list is a good sign that the Swiss market is eager for an excellent payroll solution.

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