Justworks

Justworks is a HR and payroll management startup that specializes in offering flexible benefits packages that include health insurance coverage. Justworks is a professional employer organization (PEO) that offers software as a service for small to medium businesses to manage payroll, human resources, benefits, and government compliance.

Justworks is registered to operate in all 50 states and provides small businesses access to large-group health care plans. In addition, Justworks offers benefits to employees such as medical, vision, dental, gym memberships, 401(k) plans, and pre-tax commuter benefits.

Justworks founder Isaac Oates spent 12 years in the Army Reserve and the National Guard, eventually rising to become an officer. Concurrently, Oates spent 3 years at Amazon as a software engineer, then a year and a half as a product manager. Oates left Amazon to found an advertising startup Adtuitive in 2008, which was acquired by Etsy in 2009. Oates started Justworks in 2012 as a solution to the frustration he experienced managing HR and payroll at Adtuitive and Etsy.

In 2014, Justworks received $6 million in its series A funding round led by Thrive Capital and Index Ventures. The next year, it received an additional $13 million in a series B funding led by Bain Capital Ventures. In March 2016, Justworks received another $33 million in series C funding, bringing the total investment in the company to $53 million. Redpoint Ventures led the third round but existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Thrive Capital and Index Ventures also participated.

In late 2014, Camilla Velasquez, previously Director of Payments at Etsy, joined Justworks as its Head of Product. In 2015, Nick Thuesen, formerly Chief Architect at Tumblr, joined Justworks to work as its Head of Engineering.

In 2015, the company posted a revenue growth rate of 1,500 percent and a growth in its user base by 800 percent. In the same year, the company grew from 20 to nearly 100 employees.