Personio

About Personio

Financials

Dated, source-cited figures. Estimates are marked.

Products by Personio

All products by Personio reviewed by our AI panel of experts.

PersonioAI HR & Recruiting

HR software for recruiting, onboarding, and people management in one place

Free7.6/10

How Our Review Panel Scores Personio

Six independent reviewer personalities assessed Personio's product on their own terms. They disagreed by 1.6 points — The Finance Lead was the hardest to convince, The Domain Strategist the most positive.

Averaged across 1 reviewed product in our catalog. Scores are out of 10.

Competitive Landscape

Who Personio competes with, and how they differ.

HiBob6.8/10

Tel Aviv-headquartered and leans into employee engagement and culture (surveys, recognition, a consumer-grade UI) rather than Personio's DACH payroll-compliance depth; per-seat pricing runs higher at scale.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

BambooHR8.0/10

US-built self-serve HRIS strongest in onboarding and time-off tracking for small teams, but lacks Personio's native German/EU payroll compliance and has a thinner performance-management module.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

Rippling

Bundles HR with IT device management and finance/payroll into one unified platform for tech-forward companies, versus Personio's HR-first, EU-compliance-first approach.

F

Factorial

Barcelona-based and the closest European-born peer, undercutting Personio on price with a broader pan-EU (rather than DACH-specific) payroll and compliance footprint aimed at smaller SMBs.

Company Timeline

Key milestones in Personio's history, with sources.

1. April 2026Acquisition

   Personio acquires recruiting-AI startup aurio, reports first profitable quarter

   Personio acquired Munich-based recruiting-automation startup aurio to add AI sourcing and screening features to its ATS, announcing the deal alongside the company's first profitable quarter. Deal terms were not disclosed; Personio reported 16,000 customers covering 1.5 million employees.

   munich-startup.de
2. Oct 31, 2025Milestone

   Personio cuts 165 jobs and exits the US market

   Personio laid off 165 employees, about 10% of staff, and closed its New York office, completely discontinuing its US business two years after opening it, to refocus resources on European customers en route to a stated 2026 profitability target.

   personalwirtschaft.de
3. Jan 26, 2024Milestone

   Personio lays off about 100 staff in a Product and Technology reshuffle

   Personio dismissed approximately 100 employees, about 5% of headcount, from its Product and Technology department; the company said this was a skills reshuffle rather than a cost-cutting measure, citing 150+ open PTech roles at the time.

   tech.eu
4. Jun 21, 2022Funding

   Series E second close - $200M led by Greenoaks, $8.5B valuation

   Personio raised an additional $200 million in a second Series E close, again led by Greenoaks Capital Partners, bringing total Series E proceeds to $470 million and valuing the company at $8.5 billion.

   techcrunch.com
5. Oct 11, 2021Funding

   Series E first tranche - $270M led by Greenoaks, $6.3B valuation

   Personio raised $270 million in a first Series E tranche led by Greenoaks Capital Partners, with new investors Altimeter Capital and Alkeon joining returning backers, at a $6.3 billion valuation - a 3.7x jump in nine months.

   techcrunch.com
6. Jan 17, 2021Funding

   Series D - $125M co-led by Index Ventures and Meritech, $1.7B valuation

   Personio raised $125 million in Series D funding co-led by Index Ventures and Meritech Capital at a $1.7 billion valuation, becoming one of Germany's newest HR-tech unicorns.

   techcrunch.com
7. Jan 20, 2020Funding

   Series C - $75M led by Accel, $500M valuation

   Personio raised a $75 million Series C led by Accel, with Lightspeed Venture Partners participating, valuing the company at $500 million and bringing total funding to $130 million since founding.

   techcrunch.com
8. Jan 17, 2019Funding

   Series B - $40M led by Index Ventures

   Personio raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Index Ventures, with Northzone and Global Founders Capital participating; the company reported more than 1,000 clients in 35 countries at the time.

   techcrunch.com
9. Aug 3, 2017Funding

   Series A - $12M led by Northzone

   Personio raised a $12 million Series A led by Northzone, with Global Founders Capital and Picus Capital participating, after bootstrapping to roughly 400 customers.

   techcrunch.com
10. 2015Founded

    Personio founded in Munich

    Hanno Renner and co-founders launched Personio in Munich to build HR software for European small and medium-sized businesses, bootstrapping to roughly 100 customers before raising outside capital.

    techcrunch.com