Rajeev Behera’s latest venture, an all-inclusive HR startup called Every, is stirring up the industry, leaving many to wonder if it’s a stroke of genius or a bold gamble. Every is competing in a crowded market of multi-faceted HR software that handles payroll, onboarding, and expenditure management for small businesses. It has to contend with established names like Gusto, Rippling, and Deel, as well as emerging players like Mercury and Brex, and a host of smaller startups including Finally, Paylocity, and AccountsIQ.
Despite the stiff competition, investors are betting big on Behera’s unique approach. Every recently secured a $22.5 million Series A funding round, spearheaded by Redpoint Ventures’ Alex Bard, and featuring contributions from Y Combinator, Okta Ventures, and Base10 Partners’ Rexhi Dollaku.
The approach that has piqued investor interest involves targeting early-stage tech startups and offering them free incorporation documents. Behera and co-founder Barry Peterson also provide these startups with a business bank account and other essential back-office services. Every then charges monthly SaaS fees for additional modules, such as accounting, and interchange fees.
Once startups are onboarded with Every, they gain access to an integrated suite of services including banking, payroll, HR onboarding, HR benefits, bookkeeping, taxes, and state compliance. Furthermore, they get a Slack channel to interact with other founders.
Behera believes that his customers will be so satisfied with Every’s comprehensive service that they won’t even consider competitors like Rippling. This strategy, he explains, is designed for startups with less than 200 employees, aiming to support them through their initial five years. He concedes that fast-growing customers might eventually outgrow Every, but he envisions a future where Every is a growth-stage fintech capable of handling larger clients.
Another factor playing to Every’s advantage is Behera’s connection with Y Combinator. Behera is a seasoned entrepreneur having co-founded HR employee reviews company Reflektive and selling it for a considerable sum. His wife, Surbhi Sarna, also a successful entrepreneur and YC adviser, furthers strengthens his YC ties. Around half of Every’s customer base comes from the YC network.
After taking a two-year break from the entrepreneurial world, Behera is back and has built Every from the ground up. He and Peterson painstakingly coded all of their HR payroll and banking products. Behera personally handled sales, customer onboarding, customer support, and product specs and designs for the first 50 customers.
Behera’s dedication caught the attention of his seed investor, Bard, who offered to lead the Series A funding round. This led to other investors joining the round, attracted by the positive feedback from their portfolio companies who were already using Every.
The Series A round was finalized in just two weeks and, although Behera has not disclosed the company’s valuation, estimates suggest it to be around $112.5 million. Every currently has around 20 employees and the new funding will be used to grow the team, particularly the engineering department, and to cover the costs of the free incorporation and onboarding business model.
