Team management app Homebase welcomes $60M Series D to give SMBs ‘superpowers’

While there are countless tech companies making HR technology for small and medium-sized businesses, much of it is aimed at “office-sitting professionals in some capacity,” insists Homebase founder and CEO John Waldmann.

Homebase is HR software that targets the two-thirds of the U.S. SMB workforce with hourly jobs that require being onsite. After nabbing over 100,000 small businesses as customers, covering over 2 million employees, Homebase recently closed $60 million in Series D funding. . L Catterton Growth led the round and was joined by Emerson Collective. The round also includes existing investors Notable Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Cowboy Ventures and PLUS Capital.

Homebase offers payroll, shift scheduling, timesheets, hiring and onboarding, communications and HR compliance.

“It’s really difficult to raise capital now, and the fact that they raised from a large private equity firm like L Catterton Growth speaks volumes about the team and the performance,” said. Jeff Richards, investor and managing partner at Notable Capital (formerly GGV Capital).

“Hourly workers have many of the same desires for flexibility and certainty, but it manifests itself in entirely different ways, and that’s our core mission,” Waldmann said.

Richards agrees. He said SMB technology aimed at frontline or hourly workers doesn’t get the attention it deserves, even though it can affect more than 55% of the workforce. He also said that artificial intelligence would be a major tool for small businesses and that companies like Homebase would allow them to “build incredible businesses.”

Despite the enthusiasm of the founder and investor, Homebase is not alone in serving this market of hourly workers. Others include Workstream, building mobile-first hiring and onboarding tools, rewards platform Salt Labs and shift payments tool Clair. Still, Richards argues that Homebase’s growth is impressive.

“Having over 2 million workers on Homebase, or over 2% of the workforce, is impressive for a private company,” Richards said. “If the numbers continue to grow, this could become a significant undertaking from a technological and economic perspective.”

TechCrunch last reported on Homebase in 2021, when the company raised $71 million. Since then, the company has looked into additional financial services products and AI-enhanced features, such as enhancing its automated payroll capabilities. He also works on automated ticket management.

The round gives Homebase a total of $169 million in venture capital. In 2021, sources told TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden that the company’s valuation was between $500 million and $600 million. Waldmann declined to confirm this or provide an updated assessment, only saying it was not a drop.

In addition to the R&D investments, Homebase made some additional changes earlier this year with the appointment of Philip Moon as its new CFO. Moon previously held strategic financial positions at companies including Square and Grove Collective. The company’s co-founder and COO Rushi Patel also added the title of chief revenue officer.

“We’re using technology to give superpowers to workers and, in fact, make work more human, not less,” Waldmann said. “There is plenty of data that demonstrates the importance of good jobs for the health of communities. Small businesses have always provided that, and that to me is why our mission is so important to make these jobs even better.