Industry landscapes
Industry report

Funding and advertised pay are reported in USD; filed accounts retain their stated source currency and basis.

Exchange-rate basis

Indicative conversions use ECB reference rates dated 2026-09-14, applied consistently across all periods. They are not historical exchange rates. Indian rupees may use crore (1 crore = 10 million); other currencies use K, M and B. CSV downloads, source documents and quoted news headlines retain their original currencies.

THE SAN FRANCISCO EDITION 2026

San Francisco’s
hr and payroll software industry,
in focus.

The companies, capital and talent shaping hr and payroll software in San Francisco. Find the leaders. Understand the segments. See where the activity is.

Snapshot: Funding in USD
Illustrated cover for HR and Payroll Software Industry Landscape of San Francisco
US
COMPANIES · CAPITAL · TALENT

An industry ecosystem,
measured in context.

HR and Payroll Software illustration
MEET THE COMPANIES

Explore San Francisco’s hr and payroll software leaders

24 featured companies from the funding, hiring, revenue and team-size leaderboards.

Expand panel +
HR and Payroll Software company highlights in San Francisco, snapshot 4 September 2026
Company
Ripplingrippling.com$1.85B12 roles2,338—
Deeldeel.com$981.59M—1,411Financial figure available in RadarView in Radar
Gustogusto.com$718.35M—5,876—
Pavepave.com$475.94M—218—
Latticelattice.com$332.47M—189—
Qwilqwil.com$229.53M—1—
Homebasejoinhomebase.com$159M—165—
Laurellaurel.ai$153.4M—23—
Tremendoustremendous.com—7 roles50—
Nucleus Talentnucleustalent.io—4 roles——
SuccessFactorssuccessfactors.com—4 roles18,910—
15Five15five.com—3 roles157—
Clearygocleary.com—3 roles22—
Hyringhyring.com—3 roles—Financial figure available in RadarView in Radar
Salsasalsa.dev—2 roles26—
6figr6figr.com——6—
AdvantageClub.aiadvantageclub.ai———Financial figure available in RadarView in Radar
Finchtryfinch.com——59—
Firstupfirstup.io——148—
Hyphengethyphen.com——159—
Klaarklaarhq.com——25Financial figure available in RadarView in Radar
Scoopscoopforwork.com——50—
Sensesensehq.com——105Financial figure available in RadarView in Radar
Teamblindteamblind.com——21—
24 featured companies

Locked revenue figures are available in Radar; the eight company financial previews stay the same throughout this page. A dash means the figure is outside these featured lists. Revenue years vary by company; the figures are not a like-for-like revenue comparison. Compare annual accounts ↗

Company discovery

Recorded evidence only

Explore the live startup set in Radar

No company example met every recorded classification, independence and public-profile gate in this snapshot. The live directory may have newer qualifying companies.

Explore classified startups in Radar ↗
THE KEY SIGNALS

HR and Payroll Software industry KPIs in San Francisco

A few useful ratios bring the size of this ecosystem into perspective.

4 September 2026
Hiring participation6.3%

17 of 270 tracked companies have open roles.

Funding participation48.5%

131 of 270 tracked companies have a recorded round.

Top 3 funding share49.1%

Share of disclosed capital received by the three largest recorded recipients.

Median disclosed round$6.7M

Midpoint of 239 rounds with a disclosed amount.

Scale is concentrated. Opportunity is broader. The three largest funding recipients hold 49.1% of disclosed capital, while 51.5% of tracked companies have no recorded funding round.

Explore the segments →
CAPITAL & COMPANY FORMATION

How San Francisco hr and payroll software has grown

Recorded company formation and disclosed funding across the complete annual series shown.

Expand panel +
2016 — 2025

Disclosed funding by year

Sum of recorded funding rounds · USD

San Francisco hr and payroll software
$0$464.83M$929.65M$1.39B$1.86B2016: $182.18M20162017: $204.04M20172018: $339.29M20182019: $773.77M20192020: $341.92M20202021: $1.63B20212022: $954.55M20222023: $646.97M20232024: $318.22M20242025: $1.05B2025
View the numbers
Annual hr and payroll software funding and company formation in San Francisco
YearFunding (USD)FoundedRaising
2016$182.18M1715
2017$204.04M1721
2018$339.29M1916
2019$773.77M1528
2020$341.92M1717
2021$1.63B2128
2022$954.55M1525
2023$646.97M1919
2024$318.22M1813
2025$1.05B1718
WHERE CAPITAL SITS

Funding concentration

Share of all disclosed company funding.

  • Rippling25.6%
  • Deel13.6%
  • Gusto9.9%
  • Other companies50.9%

Funding by stage

281 recorded rounds since 2016

NUMBER OF ROUNDS
Seed & Angel110 39.1%
Series A–B110 39.1%
Series C+ / PE43 15.3%
Grants, debt & other18 6.4%

Recent recorded rounds

Latest recorded rounds · USD
1 rounds

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Series B03/2026
JuiceBox $80M

Backed by DST Global and Sequoia Capital and others.

Largest and notable recorded rounds

Each card is one recorded round
10 cards

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Series D09/2021
Deeldeel.com$428.5M

Backed by Coatue and Altimeter Capital and others.

Series E10/2025
Deeldeel.com$300M

Backed by Ribbit Capital and Andreessen Horowitz and others.

Series D07/2019
Gustogusto.com$200M

Backed by Fidelity Investments and Generation Investment Management and others.

Series E08/2021
Gustogusto.com$175M

Backed by T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments and others.

Series F01/2022
Latticelattice.com$175M

Backed by Thrive Capital and Tiger Global Management and others.

THE BUSINESS BEHIND THE ACTIVITY

Revenue, profitability & financial strength

Expand panel +

Annual accounts availability

Exact designated identities and reviewed filing records were checked, but this page has neither a qualifying preview account nor a target cohort meeting the ten-entity aggregate floor.

DIGITAL FOOTPRINT

Web traffic, app reach and release cadence

How the San Francisco companies on this page show up online: the sites people visit, the apps they install, and how often those apps ship.

Busiest websites

15 of the 270 companies on this page carry a measured traffic record (5.6%); these are the largest of those, by monthly visits. The median among them is 939,118 visits.

CompanyMonthly visitsAuthorityMobile
Tremendoustremendous.com65,064,4564798.1%
SuccessFactorssuccessfactors.com20,001,1376351.9%
Ripplingrippling.com11,666,5586129.4%
Gustogusto.com9,199,2286337.3%
Teamblindteamblind.com8,538,5856560.4%
Workstreamworkstream.us4,060,1315181.8%
Amuse Labsamuselabs.com1,228,8944771.5%
Insightfulinsightful.io939,118401.1%
Careerflowcareerflow.ai564,4963630.9%
B9bnine.com357,1983298.5%

Visits and authority are third-party web estimates, not company-reported figures.

Most-installed apps

40 of these companies (14.8%) publish at least one Android app — 51 apps in all, carrying 22.3M installs between them.

Installs are lifetime totals to date at the June 2026 store reading — a measure of reach, not of people using an app today.

App reach by segment

The busiest app inside each of this page’s own segments, with the quarterly release trend behind it (2023Q2–2026Q1).

SegmentAppsInstallsLeading appRelease trend
Hrtech5122.3MSAP SuccessFactors Mobile 8.2M
Finance & Accounting Tech31.5MGusto Mobile 1.5M
Alternative Lending21.2MB9: Cash Advance 1.2M
Enterprise Collaboration11462.5KFirstup 412.1K
Field Force Automation5431.4KWebWork Time Tracker 9.7K
It Operations2414.6KMy MSCI 2.5K
Vertical Business Intelligence235.7KQulture.Rocks 34.9K
Product Management Tools234.7KClickTime - Time and Expenses 17.4K

A company can carry several segment tags, so these rows overlap and should not be added together. Trend lines are zero-based and share one quarter grid, so a flat line is a quiet segment, not a missing one.

Release cadence by quarter

New apps published, beside apps whose most recent update landed in that quarter — the second bar is how much of the shelf is still being maintained.

2023Q2: 22023Q2: 02023Q22023Q3: 42023Q3: 02023Q32024Q1: 12024Q1: 12024Q12024Q2: 12024Q2: 22024Q22024Q3: 22024Q3: 22024Q32025Q3: 22025Q3: 32025Q32025Q4: 22025Q4: 12025Q42026Q1: 12026Q1: 62026Q1

Darker bars are new releases, lighter bars apps updated. 51 of 51 apps carry a release date. The series ends at 2026Q1, the last quarter that closed before the June 2026 reading.

INSIDE THE INDUSTRY

The San Francisco hr and payroll software market map

Explore the segments behind the headline numbers.

Expand panel +

Where companies are building

Rank segments by scale, hiring or disclosed funding.

Enterprise tech257
Enterprise software226
Hr saas202
Saas202
Future of work101
Artificial intelligence46
Remote work tools44
Fintech39
Cfo stack37
Native ai in recruiting28
Consumer digital28
Y combinator batches19

Companies can sit in several segments. Counts and funding overlap.

SEGMENT TO EXPLORE

Enterprise tech

The largest measured segment in this report snapshot.

257companies
6.6%have hiring activity

17 companies hiring · $6.69B disclosed funding

Explore in Radar

How companies make money

Common revenue models; a company can use more than one.

Subscription255
Commission on transaction11
Fee-for-service10
Advertising5
E-commerce - service2
Freemium1
E-commerce - product1
THE COMPANIES IN MOTION

Who is listing, hiring leaders, launching and winning work

Recorded corporate activity linked to companies in this landscape.

Expand panel +
Recent corporate headlines 10 dated reports
Mergers & acquisitionsworkstep.com ↗

Learning Pool announced it has acquired WorkStep, an employee engagement software developer, in a tech M&A deal.

Mergers & acquisitionsgusto.com ↗

Gusto, a leading provider of payroll, benefits, and HR solutions for small businesses, today announced it has acquired Mosey, a leading AI-powered business compliance platform.

Mergers & acquisitionsrhumbix.com ↗

And on March 31, Autodesk finalized the acquisition of data collection firm Rhumbix, which aims to help builders collect more accurate data from jobsites.

Funding roundsdeel.com ↗

Deel Raises A $300M Funding Round

Mergers & acquisitionspequity.com ↗

ADP Inc. acquired Pequity, an AI-driven compensation management software provider, to expand its human capital management capabilities beyond payroll into pay transparency, compliance, and advanced workforce planning.

Funding roundsrippling.com ↗

Rippling raised $450 million in its most recent funding round in May, which valued the company at $16.8 billion, up from $13.5 billion a year earlier.

Funding roundsklaarhq.com ↗

Klaar, the San Francisco-based performance management platform built by HR leaders, for HR leaders, today announced its official launch in the United States alongside the closing of its $5M Series A round, led by Prime Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from existing investor Shastra VC, which increased its investment in this funding round.

Funding roundsgethyphen.com ↗

Hyphen, a foodservice technology company, has secured $25 million in Series B funding to scale its Automated Makeline.

Funding roundscandoriq.com ↗

CandorIQ, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-powered workforce planning and compensation platform, has raised $4.8 million in seed funding.

Funding roundslaurel.ai ↗

Laurel, the world’s first AI Time platform, today announced it has raised $100 million in Series C funding led by IVP, with participation from GV (Google Ventures).

Full recorded event mix

Top 10 categories among 124 recorded events in the 24-month window.

New products
39
Funding rounds
24
Leadership moves
20
Mergers & acquisitions
19
Earnings
7
Lawsuit
6
Company announcements
3
Capital infusions
2
Layoffs
1
IPO activity
1
5 activity cards

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

IPO pipeline

1 companies with recorded IPO activity

Deel ↗

Follow-on Offering1 reports

Leadership moves

7 tracked people moves

Hyphen ↗
Kriti Sanon

Resignation Previously Chief Customer Officer

Rippling ↗
Sonia Parandekar

Appointment Senior Vice President of Engineering

Deel ↗
Anthony Luis Rodriguez

Appointment Chief Compliance Officer

Deel ↗
Joe Kauffman

Appointment President and Chief Financial Officer

Deel ↗
DeAnn Work

Appointment General Counsel

Product launches

Products, platforms and features in the recorded window

Gusto ↗
Gusto and Karbon integration

Integration

Gusto ↗
Redesigned mobile expenses

Mobile

Deel ↗
The Pitch

Competition

Workforce actions

1 companies with reported reductions

Gusto ↗

190 rolescost reduction

Litigation

2 tracked suits

Company
deel v rippling

corporate espionageCivil · Ongoing

Company
rippling v deel

Trade secret theftCivil · Filed

Mergers and acquisitions

Company-linked deal reports; status is preserved as recorded.

Acquirer → targetStatusDateValue / context
learning pool→WorkStep ↗Announced2026-04-28Not stated in snapshot
autodesk→Rhumbix ↗Completed2026-04-16Not stated in snapshot
Gusto→moseyAnnounced2026-04-09Not stated in snapshot
ADP Inc.→Pequity ↗Announced2025-10-30Not stated in snapshot
Gusto→guidelineAnnounced2025-10-01$600.0M
sap→SuccessFactors ↗Announced2025-08-10$3.4B

A discussion or rumour is not a completed transaction. An unstated value is not zero.

PEOPLE & OPPORTUNITY

The talent market

1,198 postings in the preceding 12 months. The full 1,708-posting snapshot covers 54 employers.

Expand panel +

Most advertised job titles

Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist19
Tax Resolution Advocate13
Account Executive12
Senior Security Engineer Corporate Security11
Chief Of Staff11
Recruiter9
0 internship postings

128 tracked postings mention remote work.

The seniority mix

694 postings specify a level.

unspecified
1,014
manager
297
senior
262
lead
120
intern
11
entry
4

Skills employers mention

Top skills across 1,708 tracked postings in the available jobs snapshot.

React
45
Typescript
42
Python
33
Salesforce
27
Saas
24
Javascript
20
Sql
20
Payroll
18
Crm
16
Ai Tools
16
ADVERTISED PAY$125.0K/ year

Median across 227 postings with pay data, expressed in USD.

Salary by seniority

manager$133.0K/ year53 postings
senior$180.0K/ year31 postings

Advertised posting medians do not describe all employees or roles.

THE PEOPLE BUILDING THE FIELD

Founders and leaders

245 founders and chief executives across 143 companies.

Expand panel +
12 profiles

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Education networks

72 profiles with education records.

Stanford University
20
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8
Harvard University
5
Duke University
5
University of California (Berkeley)
5
Stanford Business School
4
University of Pennsylvania
3
University of California (Los Angeles)
3

Prior employers

35 profiles with prior-work records.

Google
9
Facebook
6
Microsoft
4
Boston Consulting Group
3
Amazon
3
Salesforce
3
McKinsey
3
Uber
2

Profiles cover recorded founders and leaders; contact details remain in Radar.

DEMAND, SUPPLY & PLACE

Where demand signals run ahead of mapped supply — San Francisco

Compare demand signals in San Francisco’s newsflow with the hr and payroll software categories mapped to each signal.

Expand panel +
HOW TO READ THE GAP

Signal percentile − supply percentile = gap in percentile points. Positive gaps highlight questions to investigate. A high signal can reflect spending pressure or access friction, as well as potential demand.

The comparison is relative to the signal families on this page. A supply percentile of zero means the lowest relative reading, not zero companies. It is a prioritisation clue, not measured market size or unmet demand.

COMPARISON PERIOD2025-05-01 to 2026-05-01Against 2024-05-01 to 2025-05-01Explore the signals ↓

The opportunity, in one view

Signal and mapped-supply percentiles, their gap, and change in the signal’s article share.

Swipe horizontally to compare all columns →

4 San Francisco demand signals compared with mapped hr and payroll software supply
Signal familySignal percentileSupply percentileRelative gapGap (points)Signal share vs prior year
Open-source momentum ↗Ecosystem Signal16.70.0+16.7+82.4%
Tech workforce shifts ↗Spending Pressure50.050.0+0.0+68.7%
Cloud & platform build-out ↗Infrastructure Shift83.3100.0-16.7+239.4%
Security incidents & breaches ↗Risk Pressure50.0—No matching category—+120.2%

Showing all 4 signals. Select a family for its history and mapped categories.

Where the signals are loudest

All 12 city readings for these demand families in the comparison geography. San Francisco is highlighted.

Mentions per 10,000 articles

Each city’s reading is a share of its own coverage. Rows cover all of the United States for this page's signal families; San Francisco is marked.

Seattle127.4

Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches · Cloud & platform build-out

San Francisco86.7

Tech workforce shifts · Cloud & platform build-out · Security incidents & breaches

Minneapolis74.9

Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches · Cloud & platform build-out

Newark61.3

Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches · Cloud & platform build-out

Portland59.5

Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches · Cloud & platform build-out

St. Louis54.2

Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches · Cloud & platform build-out

Austin46.1

Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches · Cloud & platform build-out

Detroit43.9

Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches · Cloud & platform build-out

San Diego43.7

Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches · Cloud & platform build-out

Orlando40.9

Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches · Cloud & platform build-out

Atlanta40.1

Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches · Cloud & platform build-out

Las Vegas30.5

Cloud & platform build-out · Tech workforce shifts · Security incidents & breaches

Inside the leading signals

Open any signal for its quarterly history
ECOSYSTEM SIGNALOpen-source momentum+16.7percentile-point gap
THE OPERATING HYPOTHESIS

Open-source momentum can seed the commercial layer around the projects teams adopt.

13.06mentions per 10,000 articles+82.4%share change vs prior year

Mapped hr and payroll software categories

  • Enterprise Software226

Companies can appear in multiple categories; these counts are not a unique-company total.

Quarterly share of San Francisco coverage

Mentions per 10,000 articles · zero baseline

071421282024Q3: 72024Q32024Q4: 122024Q42025Q1: 32025Q12025Q2: 202025Q22025Q3: 242025Q32025Q4: 32025Q42026Q1: 62026Q1
View quarterly signal counts
Open-source momentum in San Francisco coverage
QuarterMentionsPer 10,000 articles
2024Q3147.43
2024Q42112.28
2025Q193.6
2025Q22620.02
2025Q32924.56
2025Q433.35
2026Q1106.04

Where this signal concentrates in the comparison geography

San Francisco11.5 / 10,000
Seattle7.1 / 10,000
Boston6.4 / 10,000
SPENDING PRESSURETech workforce shifts+0.0percentile-point gap
THE OPERATING HYPOTHESIS

Hiring, visa and layoff cycles can resize teams — per-seat budgets tend to follow.

36.88mentions per 10,000 articles+68.7%share change vs prior year

Mapped hr and payroll software categories

  • Hr Saas202
  • Future Of Work101
  • Remote Work Tools44

Companies can appear in multiple categories; these counts are not a unique-company total.

Quarterly share of San Francisco coverage

Mentions per 10,000 articles · zero baseline

0193756742024Q3: 132024Q32024Q4: 382024Q42025Q1: 192025Q12025Q2: 152025Q22025Q3: 642025Q32025Q4: 592025Q42026Q1: 212026Q1
View quarterly signal counts
Tech workforce shifts in San Francisco coverage
QuarterMentionsPer 10,000 articles
2024Q32513.26
2024Q46638.61
2025Q14819.21
2025Q22015.4
2025Q37664.36
2025Q45359.12
2026Q13521.14

Where this signal concentrates in the comparison geography

Seattle91.8 / 10,000
Minneapolis68.4 / 10,000
St. Louis50.7 / 10,000
INFRASTRUCTURE SHIFTCloud & platform build-out-16.7percentile-point gap
THE OPERATING HYPOTHESIS

Cloud and platform build-out can multiply the pipelines and environments a team must manage.

21.32mentions per 10,000 articles+239.4%share change vs prior year

Mapped hr and payroll software categories

  • Hr Saas202
  • Saas202

Companies can appear in multiple categories; these counts are not a unique-company total.

Quarterly share of San Francisco coverage

Mentions per 10,000 articles · zero baseline

0132538512024Q3: 72024Q32024Q4: 62024Q42025Q1: 52025Q12025Q2: 72025Q22025Q3: 442025Q32025Q4: 242025Q42026Q1: 102026Q1
View quarterly signal counts
Cloud & platform build-out in San Francisco coverage
QuarterMentionsPer 10,000 articles
2024Q3147.43
2024Q4116.43
2025Q1135.2
2025Q2107.7
2025Q35244.03
2025Q42224.54
2026Q11710.27

Where this signal concentrates in the comparison geography

San Francisco23.2 / 10,000
Las Vegas13.6 / 10,000
Seattle13.0 / 10,000
RISK PRESSURESecurity incidents & breaches—supply not mapped
THE OPERATING HYPOTHESIS

Breach pressure can push security into every buying decision.

13.83mentions per 10,000 articles+120.2%share change vs prior year

Mapped hr and payroll software categories

This signal has no matching category in the page’s hr and payroll software market map, so no supply percentile or gap is assigned.

Quarterly share of San Francisco coverage

Mentions per 10,000 articles · zero baseline

071421282024Q3: 52024Q32024Q4: 62024Q42025Q1: 22025Q12025Q2: 242025Q22025Q3: 162025Q32025Q4: 52025Q42026Q1: 122026Q1
View quarterly signal counts
Security incidents & breaches in San Francisco coverage
QuarterMentionsPer 10,000 articles
2024Q3105.3
2024Q4116.43
2025Q172.8
2025Q23224.64
2025Q32016.94
2025Q455.58
2026Q12112.68

Where this signal concentrates in the comparison geography

Newark25.4 / 10,000
Portland22.1 / 10,000
Seattle15.4 / 10,000
RESEARCH & CHANGING CONVERSATIONS

Related research and changing coverage

San Francisco hr and payroll software coverage

Expand panel +
RESEARCH CONTEXT · 2021

Exploring the Profiles of Software Testing Jobs in the United States

IEEE Access

23 citations in the snapshot

RESEARCH CONTEXT · 2021

AI and DevOps in Information Technology and Its Future in the United States

SSRN Electronic Journal

14 citations in the snapshot

RESEARCH CONTEXT · 2024

The Integration of AI and Devops in the Field of Information Technology and Its Prospective Evolution in the United States

International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology

7 citations in the snapshot

RESEARCH CONTEXT · 2021

Global and Latin American female participation in evidence-based software engineering: a systematic mapping study

Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society

6 citations in the snapshot

What is growing in this coverage

San Francisco coverage of this page's demand families

KeywordRecent articlesPrior articlesShare change
cloud infrastructure3311358.7%
threat feed integration218301.4%
vulnerability intelligence198263.1%
ai hardware2920121.7%

Share changes describe coverage in the stated comparison periods, not search demand or market size.

UNDERSTAND THE LANDSCAPE

HR and Payroll Software in San Francisco: key questions

Clear definitions for making better comparisons.

What does this landscape measure?

It measures the tracked company ecosystem, recorded funding, hiring and other available evidence. It is not a market-size estimate.

Can segment counts be added together?

No. A company can belong to several segments, so segment counts and funding can overlap.

What does a missing figure mean?

A dash or unavailable panel means the current reviewed source snapshot does not support that figure.

Company ecosystem snapshot: 4 September 2026. Funding is recorded in USD; filed accounts retain their stated currency and reporting basis. Each section identifies its own coverage. The news and research behind these sections is explorable in Prism.

Canonical landscape ↗
Coming soon