Dive Brief:

• Namely, a New York based company that offers a cloud-based package of HR applications, has taken a $45 million Series C investment led by Sequoia, as reported by re/code.net.
• While there has already been a lot of disruption in the once-sleepy world of HR software, Namely CEO Matt Straz told re/code that his company targets the mid-market. That means companies of about 200 employees that are too big for Zenefits and too small for Workday.
• Namely’s customers use the application to run payroll, track time off, manage health insurance, and track employee reviews and promotions. It also has a social component for collaborating on projects and sharing information across a company.

Dive Insight:

Much like Zenefits, Namely is a licensed insurance broker in all 50 states. But the company charges for its benefits software, unlike Zenefits, which offers its software for free—a practice that has angered the insurance industry.

“We set out to imagine what a new HR platform for growing companies would look like,” Straz said. It now has 200 customers operating in 20 countries, tracks some 30,000 employees and processes more than $1 billion in paychecks a year.

“Most people don’t like using HR systems, and they may use them maybe twice a year, when they enroll for their benefits and then to download their tax forms,” said Straz. “We set out to create something that people would use every business day.”