Gusto, the US-based payroll services provider previously known as ZenPayroll, has raised $50m from investors including Google Capital, technology conglomerate Alphabet’s growth equity unit, Buzzfeed reported on Monday.
The round valued Gusto at $1bn and was funded by existing investors that also included venture capital firm General Catalyst Partners, according to chief executive Joshua Reeves.
The amount of funding, which represents a series B-1 round, was originally reported by VentueBeat.
Gusto operates a cloud-based platform that provides payroll services for businesses. It changed its name from ZenPayroll in September this year and is looking to expand into areas including employee benefits like health insurance.
The company raised $60m in an April 2015 series B round led by Google Capital and backed by General Catalyst, Emergence Capital Partners, Ribbit Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) which valued it at $560m.
“Last month, we knew that there was a lot of interest from existing investors to put in more capital,” Reeves told VentureBeat last week. “We decided to take in more capital because we wanted to give investors a chance to increase their position. They have been incredibly supportive and helpful.”
Gusto previously secured $6.1m in seed capital from Google Ventures, which acts as Alphabet’s corporate venturing arm, enterprise software producer Salesforce.com and assorted angel investors in 2012.
The company subsequently raised $20m in a February 2014 series A round featuring General Catalyst and KPCB that valued it at $100m.