Payroll fintech founded by Google alums raises $35m
Check, a new US fintech focused on developing payroll products, has launched after two years in stealth and a $35 million Series B round.
Check’s founding team all previously worked at Google
Co-founders, Andrew Brown, Vivek Patel, and Eric Stromberg, are all former Google employees.
Brown and Stromberg also founded streaming service, Oyster, which Patel worked on as a software engineer. Oyster was acquired by Google in 2016 and assimilated into the Big Tech.
Check says it already works with 100,000 small businesses, providing payroll infrastructure that “enables innovation across the ecosystem”.
Stripe and Thrive led the funding round, bringing Check’s total raised to $44 million. Thrive also participation in Check’s Series A, which netted the firm $8 million.
Check says that small businesses often use industry-specific software to manage their business, but all pick the same payroll service.
“Paying employees is still done in much the same way it was 30 years ago: through standalone systems,” its founder write in a blog post.
“A fitness studio has different workflow needs than a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) business, which in turn has different workflow needs than a restaurant.”
The three say Check’s application programming interface (API)-first embedded service makes it possible for businesses to run payroll in “day-to-day” software platforms.
Check employs a team of 20, spread between New York City and San Francisco. It says members of its team have worked for Uber, Goldman Sachs, Gusto, and ADP.
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