Human Interest, the online 401(k) retirement service, has recently secured $200 million in a Series D funding round. This investment marks the largest fintech venture capital round of 2020 — A signal that investors are increasingly interested in investments with strong potential returns. The capital will be used to grow human interest’s 401(k) plan management capabilities, to further integrate with payroll providers and expand the company’s geographic presence beyond its current 50 state limit.
The companies participating in this venture capital round include some of the world’s most influential industry and venture capital players, such as Sands Capital Ventures, Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital. The full investor list includes: Sands Capital Ventures, Tiger Global Management LLC., Sequoia Captial Management Services LLC., Iconiq Growth Fund LIV LP., Kartesia Fund SICAR SCS., Avenir Fund LLC., QED Investors LLC., Investment grade Surety & Insurance Co., TCV AG and F-Prime Capital Partners LP.
This historic capital raise adds fuel to the burgeoning fintech market, forecasted to surpass $305 billion by 2024 — just four short years away. With strong growth prospects, Human Interest looks forward to providing customers with dependable investment options as they enter retirement age.
Human Interest Overview
Human Interest is a San Francisco-based, human resources and benefits technology company that has raised over $260M in capital. Human Interest provides companies with employee and payroll compliance, tax compliance, and employee benefits consulting services. In addition, their platform helps employers easily manage their employees by providing them an intuitive user interface for onboarding, reviewing applications, connecting employees and managing employee information. The company has demonstrated strong growth since its founding in 2016; it now serves over 5,000 customers from enterprises to start-ups across all 50 U.S. states.
Recent news from investment technology firm Crunchbase showed that Human Interest had closed a Series D funding round of $200 million led by General Atlantic, which joins existing investors DBL Partners and Unusual Ventures in the latest financing round for the company. The Series D round puts Human Interest’s total known raise at over $260M and an estimated valuation of $1+ billion in venture capital investments into the company since 2016.
Human Interest Raises $200M Series D Financing
Human Interest, the San Francisco-based provider of 401(k) retirement plans for small businesses, has raised a $200M Series D round of financing, led by Coatue and Tiger Global. This brings the total funding raised by Human Interest to over $400M.
This funding round will allow Human Interest to expand its financial products, reach, and customer base. First, let’s take a look at the details of this investment.
Amount Raised
Human Interest has raised total funding of $332M over 8 rounds. The most recent round was for a $200M Series D on Feb 10, 2021. This sense round was co-led by Thrive Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Founders Fund, 01 Advisors, and LocalGlobe.
The company plans on using the new funds to scale further and expand its 401(k) platform to more employers across the US.
Investors
Human Interest’s Series D round was led by new financiers TDM Growth Partners and Dragoneer Investment Group, with participation from previous investors, including ICONIQ Capital, Founders Circle Capital Management and Andreessen Horowitz.
Newly-formed TDM Growth Partners is an upper growth-stage venture fund jointly floated by Atreides Management, which technology entrepreneur Tyler Harrison steers; David Mathews of search engine DuckDuckGo; and American investors Doostang.
Similarly, Dragoneer Investment Group is a private markets investor focusing on public equity funds and newly-launched tech startups intending to offer the most comprehensive resources for the latter’s growth and development.
Previous backers like Founders Circle Capital Management are growth equity funds specializing in investments up to $30 million across consumer tech, enterprise tech, fintech, healthcare and more. Similarly, venture capitalists such as Andreessen Horowitz advise companies on strategy while giving them representation in the startup eco-system they’re playing in.
IOCNIQ Capital provides capital to floundering businesses or invested early in profitable intellectual property providers, leading them to accelerated sustainable economic value creation.
Human Interest’s Impact on the Retirement Industry
The Series D round of investment in Human Interest (the “Company”) marks a critical step in its mission to become a retirement industry leader. By raising $200M, Human Interest will have the opportunity to impact and expand its existing retirement services across the country and provide new innovative solutions that meet the needs of employers and employees alike.
The Company provides comprehensive retirement plans for businesses, including 401(k), SIMPLE IRA and SEP plans, and personalized guidance for users with their online tools. The Series D funding will enable Human Interest to expand their services across new markets, drive product development initiatives, grow their teams and increase brand awareness and engagement.
The Funds leading this round of investment include Coatue Management, Durable Capital Partners and Charles Schwab Investment Management among others. These organizations are all well-known venture capitalists specializing in financial technology investments, focusing on delivering robust solutions to traditional workplace problems such as financial wellness. This impressive roster demonstrates how attractive an asset Human Interest has become in a rapidly growing retirement industry.
Overall, this strategically timed investment allows Human Interest to affect meaningful change in American’s saving habits while continuing to create innovative products that offer user-friendly features at an attractive cost point.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Human Interest’s $200M Series D funding round was backed by a substantial list of seasoned investors. In addition, the large investment round exemplifies venture capitalists’ trust in Human Interest’s ability to turn their projects into reality and become a leading player in their respective industries.
It also affirms that investors are increasingly looking to support organizations with disruptive yet feasible projects while prioritizing sustainable growth with solid intentions and fair play.
Lastly, this success reflects the growing importance of B2B SaaS companies in digital transformation and innovation on a larger scale.
tags = Human Interest, Raises $200M, Gunderson Dettmer, top-rated SMB 401(k) provider, retirement savings crisis, human smbs 200m 1b azevedotechcrunch, Jeff Schneble, Jared Grauer and included Bob Zhao, Peter Jung and Bella Thornton-Clark.
