Exclusive: Embedded payroll startup Salsa raises $20M
Why it matters: Vertical SaaS platforms have been steadily adding various financial services to their suites, but many still lack a payroll offering.
Zoom in: Altos Ventures led the round, which included participation from SemperVirens, Greycroft, Definition, and Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV).
New York-based Salsa has raised $30 million since being founded in 2021.
How it works: Salsa provides an API-based platform and a library of UI components that enable vertical SaaS platforms to quickly launch and offer payroll as a feature to their end customers.
It also handles all the compliance, money movement, tax filings and payments on behalf of its customers.
The company is licensed to offer payroll in all 50 states and Canada.
Context: Before Salsa, Kramer was the COO of HoneyBook, a client relationship management platform for independent businesses.
"At HoneyBook, we couldn't build a better payroll product for our customers because it is too big for one company to build. There's too much compliance and operations [work]," Kramer says.
Coming full circle, Kramer says HoneyBook recently became a Salsa customer and launched its payroll product in 17 days.
Follow the money: Salsa has also signed up platforms like Jane, Maple, Mangomint, GlossGenius and Paid.
State of play: Salsa competes with startups like Check, which has raised about $120 million since being founded in 2019, and Zeal (fka Puzzl), which has raised nearly $30 million (including a $15 million round led by Portage last October).
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