In 2024, at the launch of PaidHR’s cross-border payroll product, Seye Bandele, the CEO and co-founder of the Nigerian HR-tech upstart, spoke to TechCabal about the company’s plans to include more fintech-adjacent products.
At the time, we asked if PaidHR—which processed over ₦29 billion ($18 million) in staff salaries in that same year—was venturing into fintech; the answer was a definitive no.
Months after our conversation, the HR-tech startup launched an employee wallet app that allows employees to access and spend their wages without needing to transfer to a bank. The wallet app, which currently processes over ₦1.3 billion ($835,134) monthly, has triggered a knee-jerk reaction: “Yet another startup selling airtime.”
PaidHR’s playbook isn’t new. Global HR-tech companies like Deel, Remote, and Rippling have followed a similar arc—starting with payroll, then embedding financial services to deepen user engagement and drive revenue. Deel offers global payroll with built-in wallets and a Deel Card, enabling cross-border workers to hold and spend earnings. Rippling, which began as an HR platform, now includes corporate cards, expense management, and financial automation. Remote also facilitates multi-currency payments and localized benefits. PaidHR’s evolution mirrors this path.
Blurring the lines between HR and fintech
PaidHR launched in 2021 with a simple thesis: if you want to improve productivity in Africa, you need to fix how people work and how they get paid. The company launched its core HR and payroll software for small and medium businesses, layering different functionality over time: Earned Wage Access (EWA) in 2023, cross-border payroll in 2024, and now a wallet product that allows employees to access and spend their wages without needing to transfer to a bank.
Each feature solved a user pain point. EWA, which disbursed ₦150 million ($93,803) last year, tackled liquidity gaps. Cross-border payroll simplified compliance and FX risk for remote teams. And the wallet? That’s where the money stays and gets spent.
“Somebody takes an advance of ₦5,000 but ends up with ₦4,700 after charges,” Bandele said. “Then he has to pay more fees just to send it to a bank or Opay. It didn’t make sense. We built utility directly into the wallet. Airtime, food, bills—everything he already spends on.”
Since PaidHR had an existing technology that provides an employer wallet, it was easy to provide an employee wallet, Bandele said.
Follow the money
PaidHR’s wallet has processed ₦1.3 billion ($835,134) in transaction volume monthly since inception. That’s the portion of salaries that employees choose to keep inside the platform instead of cashing out.
1. Value-Added Services (VAS) Margin
According to Bandele, most wallet spend goes toward airtime, data, power bills, and transportation—routine but high-frequency expenses. PaidHR doesn’t offer these services directly; it aggregates licensed partners and takes a cut of each transaction.
If 10% of the ₦1.3 billion is spent on these VAS channels and PaidHR earns a 2% margin through revenue sharing, that’s ₦2.6 million in “passive” revenue per month—₦15.6 million over the last six months.
That’s 0.2% of assets under management (AUM) generated without lending, risk, or customer acquisition costs.
2. Float Leverage via EWA
By keeping money in-app, PaidHR also gains control of float, which can fund earned wage access. It’s effectively recycling employer payroll funds into employee credit without external financing.
Employees withdraw wages early, spend in-app, and the platform gets paid twice—once on the credit spread and again on the utility margin.
3. Cross-Border Payroll Margins
The platform also facilitates multi-currency payroll across 49 countries. PaidHR earns fees on FX and disbursement, especially for employers with distributed teams. “The entire cross-border rail sits on the wallet infrastructure,” Bandele said.
The company doesn’t break out FX margins, but in similar platforms, they can range between 1.5–3%, depending on the destination.
HR infrastructure, Fintech economics
Despite the fintech-style revenue mechanics, PaidHR still identifies as an HR company. Its biggest income stream remains subscription fees paid by employers to manage payroll and staff.
But the lines are starting to blur.
Employers fund wallet accounts monthly to run payroll. Employees increasingly keep their wages on the platform to save, spend, or borrow. And PaidHR captures margin at every node.
“People spend where they earn,” Bandele said. “We’re just making it seamless to do both.”
The platform now partners with licensed fintechs like Risevest to offer savings and FX options directly from the wallet. Payroll has become a gateway into broader financial behavior.
What comes next
PaidHR is raising a seed round and looking to expand across Nigeria into other West African countries as well as East Africa. International employers can already pay African staff in dollars or local currency through the platform. The next phase may involve more embedded finance—healthcare, insurance, and transport.
Asked if the wallet or FX rails will eventually overtake subscriptions as the core business, Bandele didn’t rule it out. “We’ll see,” Bandele said.
But if the current numbers are any guide, the logic is clear:
The more money PaidHR moves, the more it makes. Whether or not it calls itself a fintech.
