Papaya Global was doing global payroll before the pandemic made it trendy. Eynat Guez founded it in 2016 — three years before Remote.com and four years before Oyster existed. She raised $440 million and was valued at $3.7 billion at its peak. The company processes payroll in 160+ countries and moved into payments with its own licensed payment infrastructure. She built the plumbing while everyone else was arguing about working from home.
Founded
2016
HQ
New York, USA
Total Raised
$440 million
Founder
Eynat Guez
Status
Private
Website
www.papayaglobal.comTHE ORIGIN STORY
Eynat Guez spent years in the global payments and workforce management industry and saw that multinational payroll was a mess of spreadsheets, local providers, and manual reconciliation. Even large companies with thousands of international employees were using a patchwork of local payroll providers.
She founded Papaya Global in 2016 in Israel with the vision of building a unified platform for global workforce payments. The company started by aggregating local payroll providers onto a single dashboard, then gradually built its own infrastructure.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
Papaya Global is a global payroll and payments platform. Companies use it to pay employees and contractors in 160+ countries.
Unlike pure EOR companies, Papaya focuses on the payment rails — moving money across borders compliantly and efficiently.
They charge per-payslip processing fees. Revenue comes from payroll processing, payment transaction fees, and FX margins.
Their acquisition of a payments license lets them process funds directly rather than through third-party banks.
THE PRODUCTS
Global Payroll — process payroll in 160+ countries through a unified platform. Workforce Payments — pay employees and contractors via Papaya’s own licensed payment rails.
Employer of Record — for companies that need to hire without local entities. Analytics dashboard showing real-time workforce costs across all countries.
HOW THEY GREW
Papaya grew by targeting enterprise customers first — large companies with complex multinational payroll needs. While competitors like Deel and Remote targeted startups and SMBs, Papaya went after the Fortune 500.
Enterprise deals are slower but much larger and stickier. They also expanded from payroll into payments, building their own payment infrastructure.
THE HARD PART
The enterprise sales cycle is long and expensive. Competing with established payroll giants like ADP and SAP for enterprise clients requires significant investment in sales and compliance.
The 2022-2023 tech downturn also slowed growth as companies froze hiring.
MONEY TRAIL
Series A
2019 · Led by Bessemer Venture Partners
$20M raised
Series B
2020 · Led by Scale Venture Partners
$40M raised
Series C
2021 · Led by GreenSpring Associates
$100M raised
Series D
2022 · Led by Insight Partners
$250M raised
WHO BACKED THEM
Insight Partners led the $250 million Series D at a $3.7 billion valuation. Earlier investors include Tiger Global, Alkeon Capital, and GreenSpring Associates.
Total funding of $440 million.
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