Deals in Both Directions: Israel’s HiBob Buys British Payroll Platform Pento for $40 Million and Australia’s Macquarie Takes $32 Million Slice of Israel’s BioCatch

BioCatch Team (Facebook)

In two new deals that show how Israel Startup Nation is still strong despite the ongoing Iron Swords War in Gaza, Australian investments firm Macquarie invested $32 million in shares in Israeli biometrics and behavioral unicorn BioCatch. At the same time, and Israeli company made an acquisition abroad as Hibob, an Israeli startup and a unicorn that offers a human resources management technology platform, bought the British payroll platform Pento for $40 million.

Calcalist reported that the Macquarie investment in BioCatch came in a purchase from the startup’s early investors giving the firm a value of slightly more than $1 billion.

Founded in 2011 by Avi Turgeman and the late Benny Rosenbaum, BioCatch offers a service in Behavioral Biometrics that analyzes a n online user’s physical and cognitive digital behavior to protect individuals and their assets. The company says that its mission is to unlock the power of behavior and deliver actionable insights to create a digital world where identity, trust and ease seamlessly co-exist. Leading financial institutions around the globe use BioCatch to more effectively fight fraud, drive digital transformation and accelerate business growth. With over a decade of analyzing data, over 60 patents and unparalleled experience, BioCatch continues to innovate to solve tomorrow’s problems.

As for Hibob’s acquisition of Pento, the company said in a blog post, “Following the release of HiBob’s Payroll Hub in 2021, the acquisition represents the next step in the company’s payroll offering. It will enable HiBob to provide an ‘all-in-one’ experience with payroll as part of the Bob offering, allowing UK businesses to efficiently solve payroll complexity.”

Pento leverages real-time payment automation to deliver a fast, simplified, and error-free approach to payroll management. The company’s forward-thinking, self-service approach to payroll stands in stark contrast to the error-prone manual processes prevalent with traditional payroll processes.

Headquartered in London, Pento has reduced payment processing from weeks to minutes for more than 400 UK customers, many of which are already using the Bob platform. Pento’s technology will enable HiBob to expand its modern approach to human capital management into payroll, enhancing its full-suite capabilities for customers with UK operations looking to break away from cumbersome legacy payroll solutions.

Founded in 2015, Hibob was founded to modernize HR tech. Hibob says that its intuitive and data-driven platform, bob, was built for the way people work today: globally, remotely, and collaboratively. Since its launch in late 2015, bob has achieved consecutive triple-digit year-over-year growth, and become the HRIS of choice for more than 1,000 modern, midsize and multinational companies who understand that a powerful, agile HR tech suite is mission critical and a key driver of organizational success.

“Payroll and HRIS work hand-in-hand with strong synergies. The ultimate goal is an ‘all-in-one’ solution, where all aspects of people management are handled from a single platform. The deeper the integration, the better the overall experience,” said Ronni Zehavi, CEO and Co-Founder at HiBob.

Ronni concludes: “Traditional payroll processes are time-consuming, error-prone, and difficult to manage. Modern businesses need their HR and payroll teams focused on people, not on manual work. With this acquisition, we are providing our thousands of customers in the UK with more flexibility and ease of use in how they manage their number one asset – their people. Pento’s modern approach, along with their strong founders and proven track record, make them a strong complement to our business. We are thrilled to be welcoming their team to HiBob.”