Ghanaian And Pakistani Founders Raise $7.1M For Payroll Startup Cadana
Cadana has raised $7.1 million in seed funding this year. Launched in 2021, the startup allows global workforces to integrate payments and payroll management into their systems.
Cadana
According to the company, the world’s largest payroll platforms and talent marketplaces use Cadana’s APIs to build compliant hiring products in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Founders Albert Owusu-Asare and Ameer Shujjah, who are originally from Ghana and Pakistan, gained years of experience working at Amazon, Esusu, and Goldman Sachs before founding the company.
Although the pair appreciated their version of the American dream, they found it difficult to ignore the millions of individuals around the world who lacked similar opportunities.
Even those who secured remote work still faced challenges with inefficient payment infrastructures that delayed their earnings and restricted their financial potential.
“I’m from Ghana, and Ameer is from Pakistan. We intimately understand what these workers need and their pain points and our focus is on providing workers in these regions with the best pay experience possible,” Owusu-Asare told TechCrunch.
How Does Cadana Work?
Cadana’s first innovation was creating the earned-wage-access infrastructure for emerging markets, allowing workers to access their wages early instead of waiting until the end of the month.
They then developed cross-border payroll software, automating payments and compliance across over 30 countries in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
According to their website, they have expanded that infrastructure and become the world’s first default global payroll API for hiring platforms.
The fintech’s primary customer base spans the US and the UK, where it serves remote work businesses that employ thousands, even tens of thousands of workers.
The company provides a spectrum of solutions tailored to the different problems these businesses face such as the lower tier, the middle tier and the highest tier, all with their own features.
Cadana has now facilitated over $150 million in transactions for workers in emerging markets, serving customers that include the world’s largest talent marketplace for software engineers.
$7.1M Seed Round Funding
Cadana told TechCrunch it has raised a total of $7.4 million in funding since its founding back in January 2021.
This includes $325,000 in pre-seed funding that same year and a $7.1 million seed round, which closed this year.
Costanoa Ventures led its most recent round, with Better Tomorrow Ventures and 500 Global participating.
“Our customers in emerging markets appreciate what we’ve built. When we started, workers often waited about seven days to receive their payments and lost remittance fees too, which is a significant burden given that many support an average of five family members,” Owusu-Asare told TechCrunch.
“We focused on creating a robust local infrastructure to address these issues. Over the past three years, we’ve integrated local payments, compliance and benefits systems to serve our customers better and meet their needs.”
Image Credit: Cadana
