Cloud-based payroll benefits and human resource management innovator Gusto announced a partnership with online accounting and bookkeeping firm Xendoo to help launch Xendoo Payroll. Gusto Head of Partnerships Somrat Nyogi described the partnership as part of an overall trend toward digitization of key business operations. “Through our partnership, Xendoo is combining payroll and bookkeeping services to deliver financial peace of mind to small business owners,” Nyogi said.
Not only is this week’s partnership announcement part of a relationship between the two companies that goes back “for years,” but the collaboration, according to Xendoo CEO and founder Lil Roberts, also anticipates the beginning of a “long-term deeper tech partnership” between the two firms.
“Partnering with Gusto was a natural decision as we both strive for the same outcome: taking the stress out of finances for small business owners so they can focus on what matters most – growing their businesses,” Roberts explained. “Integrating Gusto’s embedded payroll into our new Xendoo Payroll solution will allow us to better serve our customers and expand our offering to create an all-in-one-place solution for the SMB community.”
Available via API, Gusto Embedded Payroll enables developers to embed and customize payroll functionality into their platforms. In addition to Xendoo’s launch, Gusto reported that “more than a dozen” companies already have begun to deploy the new payroll solution. Moreover, these firms will be able to leverage their new payroll functionality to gain deeper insights into their customers and discover opportunities to provide additional services. Among those first out-of-the-gate with Gusto Embedded Payroll is SMB banking platform Novo, which will become one of the first platforms of its kind to offer integrated payroll services.
“Payroll is one of the biggest expenses for small businesses, and being able to integrate it more deeply into the whole financial picture opens up many opportunities to optimize cash flow and operations,” Novo VP of Product Matt Hamilton said. “We’re excited about working with Gusto to provide the most flexible payroll experience to our businesses.”
Making its Finovate debut as ZenPayroll in 2014, Gusto was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. From its origins as a payroll services startup, Gusto has grown into a small business human resources management platform that helps companies with employee onboarding, benefits, insurance, and other HR operations. Plans start as low as $45/month and more than 100,000 businesses are on the Gusto platform.
Gusto has raised more than $516 million in funding, and includes Fidelity Management and Research Company, and Generation Investment Management among its most recent investors. Earlier this month, the company announced its first acquisition, a startup called Ardius that automates tax compliance for companies with R&D tax credits. Joshua Reeves is Gusto CEO.
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