Gusto

Provides growing businesses with everything to take care of their team

Active

Updated: Dec 17, 2025 ·

About

Gusto helps businesses take care of their hardworking teams by providing online payroll, HR solutions, and employee benefits. They serve over 400,000 businesses nationwide, automating payroll and simplifying HR processes.

Recent News & Mentions

Aug 1, 2021FundingGusto - Series E Jul 1, 2019FundingGusto - Series D Jul 1, 2018FundingGusto - Series C Dec 1, 2015FundingGusto - Series B Apr 1, 2015FundingGusto - Series B Feb 1, 2014FundingGusto - Series A Dec 1, 2012FundingGusto - Seed

Financial History

Gusto has raised $696.0M across 7 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $180.0M Series E in August 2021.

Total Raised

$696.0M

Valuation

N/A

Funding Rounds Raised

Date	Round	Other Investors
Aug 1, 2021	$180.0M Series E	9Yards Capital, Afore Capital, Alumni Ventures, Atomico, Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Broadway Angels, Cool Climate Collective, Craft Ventures, DN Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Eclipse Ventures, Essence VC, Felicis Ventures, Flex Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Ganas Ventures, General Catalyst, Gutter Capital, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Lifeline Ventures, Jeff Richards, Otherwise Fund, Polymath Capital Partners, Primary Venture Partners, Prototype Capital, Red Beard Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Seed Club Ventures, Tiger Global Management, Vibe Capital, Alex Pattis, Andrew Gazdecki, Ben Lang, Ben Tossell, Casey Neistat, David Peterson, Elad Gil, Gina Bianchini, Guy Podjarny, Jeremy Yap, Julia DeWahl, Mathilde Collin, Miki Kuusi, Nkechi Iregbulem, Peter Kazanjy, Robert Gentz, Sahin Boydas, Sam Corcos, Thijn Lamers, Zachary Sims
Jul 1, 2019	$200.0M Series D	Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Dragoneer Investment Group, Eclipse Ventures, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Tiger Global Management
Jul 1, 2018	$140.0M Series C	305 Ventures, 75 & Sunny, 9Yards Capital, Kevin Hartz, Accel, Acrew Capital, Addition, Adverb Ventures, Altimeter Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, American Express Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Angelic Ventures, Audrey Capital, Base Partners, Battery Ventures, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Blitzscaling Ventures, Bond, Broadway Angels, Buckley Ventures, C2 Investment, CapitalG, Coatue, Company Capital, Cota Capital, Craft Ventures, Daffy, Dragoneer Investment Group, E1 Ventures, Earth and beyond ventures, Scott Hartley, Expa, Flex Capital, Founders Fund, FPV Fund, General Catalyst, Graypes GmbH, Greylock, Hardware Club, Heretic Ventures, Highbury Group, Humbition, Idealab, Incite Ventures, Index Ventures, IVP, K5 Ventures, LOI Venture, Lux Capital, Moxxie Ventures, NEO, New Voices Fund, Next Play Ventures, Pear VC, Playground Global, Portal Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Pro Founders Capital, Quiet Capital, Rebel Fund, Redpoint Ventures, SciFi VC, Seven Seven Six, Sherpalo Ventures, Sinai Ventures, Smash Capital, Social Capital, Sound Ventures, South Park Commons, SQN Venture Partners, Henry Fertik, Streamlined Ventures, SV Angel, ThirdLove, Tiger Global Management, Torch Capital, Tribe Capital, UpHonest Capital, Y Combinator, Aaron Levie, Aaron Patzer, Adrian Aoun, Anil Sethi, Aston Motes, Charlie Cheever, Charlie Songhurst, Clara Shih, Dharmesh Shah, Doug Sleeter, Drew Houston, Eduardo Haber, Elon Musk, Eric Ries, Fanny Surjana, Farzad Nazem, Gabriel Naouri, Hadi Partovi, Henry Kravis, Hiten Shah, Jared Leto, Jean-Sébastien Wallez, Jeff Bezos, Jeffrey Wilke, Jeff Seibert, Jeremy Stoppelman, Josh Silverman, Justin Mateen, Justin Rosenstein, Kris Duggan, Larry Augustin, Liam Casey, Louis Beryl, Marc Benioff, Marco Zappacosta, Mark Cuban, Matt Mazzeo, Matt Mickiewicz, Michael Moritz, Nicolas Berggruen, Noosheen Hashemi, Oliver Thylmann, Phil Libin, Pratik Kapoor, Rashaun Williams, Richard Cooperstein, Sam Altman, Seth Sternberg, Shane Neman, Tien Tzuo, Tobias Lutke, Tom Chapman, Wayne Chang, Zander Lurie
Dec 1, 2015	$90.0M Series B	Addition, American Express Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Base Partners, Bond, C2 Investment, Cake Ventures, CapitalG, Company Capital, Construct Capital, E1 Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, First Round Capital, Founder Collective, Founders Fund, FPV Fund, General Catalyst, GE Ventures, Graypes GmbH, Highbury Group, Insight Partners, LAUNCH, Marc van den Berg, Pillar VC, SciFi VC, Social Capital, Sound Ventures, Henry Fertik, Susa Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Vertex Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Aaron Levie, Elon Musk, Fanny Surjana, JB Straubel, Jean-Sébastien Wallez, Jeremy Zimmer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Liam Casey, Louis Beryl, Marc Benioff, Matt Mazzeo, Michael Moritz, Mike Volpe, Pratik Kapoor, Richard Cooperstein, Ryan Tedder
Apr 1, 2015	$60.0M Series B	Acrew Capital, Addition, American Express Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Base Partners, Bond, C2 Investment, Cake Ventures, CapitalG, Company Capital, E1 Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, FPV Fund, General Catalyst, Graypes GmbH, Highbury Group, Insight Partners, SciFi VC, Sound Ventures, Henry Fertik, Susa Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Voyager Ventures, Aaron Levie, Elon Musk, Fanny Surjana, Jean-Sébastien Wallez, Jeremy Zimmer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Liam Casey, Louis Beryl, Marc Benioff, Matt Mazzeo, Michael Moritz, Pratik Kapoor, Richard Cooperstein, Ryan Tedder
Feb 1, 2014	$20.0M Series A	AngelList Syndicator, Boston Seed Capital, C2 Investment, Cake Ventures, Construct Capital, Eclipse Ventures, First Round Capital, Founder Collective, FPV Fund, General Catalyst, GE Ventures, Insight Partners, LAUNCH, Marc van den Berg, One Way Ventures, Pillar VC, SciFi VC, Social Capital, Sound Ventures, Susa Ventures, Vertex Ventures, Voyager Ventures, JB Straubel, Jeremy Zimmer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Louis Beryl, Marc Benioff, Mike Volpe, Ryan Tedder
Dec 1, 2012	$6.0M Seed	2150, 7BC Venture Capital, 8-Bit Capital, 9Yards Capital, A Capital, Kevin Hartz, A* Capital (A Star Capital), Accel, Acequia Capital, Acrew Capital, Addition, Adverb Ventures, Afore Capital, Alsop Louie Partners, AME Cloud Ventures, American Express Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, AngelList Syndicator, AngelPad, Antler, Atomic, Audrey Capital, Avalon Ventures, Bain Capital, Ballistic Ventures, Baseline Ventures, Base Partners, Benchmark, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Betaworks Ventures, Big Sky Health, Binary Capital, Bling Capital, Blitzscaling Ventures, Blockchain Coinvestors AngelList Syndicate, Bond, Boost VC, Boston Seed Capital, BoxGroup, Brainchild, Brand Foundry Ventures, Broadway Angels, C2 Investment, Cake Ventures, CapitalG, Catapult Capital, Coatue, CoinFund, Company Capital, Construct Capital, Conversion Capital, Cota Capital, Cowboy Ventures, Craft Ventures, Daffy, Dawn Capital, Matt Ocko, Zachary Bogue, Dragoneer Investment Group, Draper Associates, DST Global, E1 Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, End Partners, ENIAC Ventures, Expa, ff Venture Capital, FirstMark Capital, First Round Capital, Flex Capital, Floodgate, Flybridge, Founder Collective, Founders Circle Capital, Founders Fund, FPV Fund, Frontier Ventures, FundersClub, G20 Ventures, General Atlantic, General Catalyst, GE Ventures, Goat Capital, Goodwater Capital, Granite Ventures, Graypes GmbH, Greylock, Hardware Club, Heretic Ventures, High Alpha, Highbury Group, Incite Ventures, Insight Partners, Javelin Venture Partners, K2 Global, Khosla Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, LAUNCH, Lerer Hippeau, Lightbank, LOI Venture, Maveron, Mayfield, Menlo Ventures, Moment Ventures, National Grid Partners, Nyca Partners, Marc van den Berg, O.G. Tech Partners, One Way Ventures, Pear VC, Pillar VC, Pioneer Square Labs, Plug & Play Ventures, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Relay Ventures, Rubicon VC, Samsung NEXT Ventures, Science, SciFi VC, Seven Seven Six, Shasta Ventures, Sherpalo Ventures, Sherpa Ventures, Shine Capital, Sierra Ventures, Sinai Ventures, Slow Ventures, SLVC, Social Capital, Social Starts, Sound Ventures, South Park Commons, SRI Capital, Storm Ventures, Henry Fertik, Susa Ventures, SV Angel, Tekton Ventures, The General Partnership, The Hit Forge, Third Kind Ventures, Thomvest Ventures, Thrive Capital, Tribe Capital, True Ventures, Uncork Capital, Union Square Ventures, Unlock Venture Partners, UpHonest Capital, Upside Partnership, Vayner RSE, Verified Capital, Vertex Ventures, Voyager Capital, Voyager Ventures, Western Technology Investment, Y Combinator, Zelkova Ventures, Aaron Levie, Aaron Patzer, Adam Schwartz, Amr Awadallah, Anthony Saleh, Aston Motes, Bill Raduchel, Biz Stone, Charlie Cheever, Chris Kelly, Clara Shih, Daniel Rosensweig, Dharmesh Shah, Dino Vendetti, Don Dodge, Doug Sleeter, Drew Houston, Dustin Moskovitz, Elon Musk, Emil Michael, Emmett Shear, Eric Ries, Erik Moore, Fanny Surjana, Farzad Nazem, Flavio Nicolay Guimaraes, Hiten Shah, James Hong, Jared Kopf, Jared Leto, Jason Goldberg, Jawed Karim, JB Straubel, Jean-Sébastien Wallez, Jeff Clarke, Jeff Seibert, Jeremy Stoppelman, Jeremy Zimmer, Jim Young, Joe Caruso, John Legend, Joi Ito, Josh Elman, Josh Silverman, Josh Spear, Joshua Schachter, Justin Rosenstein, Karl Jacob, Konstantin Othmer, Kris Duggan, Kyle Vogt, Larry Augustin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Liam Casey, Lisa Gansky, Loic Le Meur, Louis Beryl, Manish Patel, Marc Benioff, Marco Zappacosta, Marissa Mayer, Mark Pincus, Martin Varsavsky, Matt Coffin, Matt Mazzeo, Matt Mickiewicz, Michael Birch, Michael G. Rubin, Michael Levit, Michael Moritz, Michael Rapino, Mike Volpe, Noah Goodhart, Philip Kaplan, Phil Libin, Pratik Kapoor, Richard Branson, Richard Chen, Richard Cooperstein, Robert Goldberg, Ronny Conway, Rudy Gadre, Russell Fradin, Russ Fradin, Ryan Sarver, Ryan Tedder, Sam Altman, Scott Belsky, Shane Battier, Shervin Pishevar, Steve Chen, Steve Martocci, Tien Tzuo, Tim Ferriss, Tobias Lutke, Tom McInerney, Troy Carter, Wayne Chang

Financial History

Gusto has raised $696.0M across 7 funding rounds.

Total Raised

$696.0M

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Gusto.

Edward Kim

Co-founder and Head of Engineering at Gusto

Tomer London

Co-founder at Gusto (YC W12). Optimist. Family guy.

Building Gusto for the Long Term

Josh Reeves

We're on a multi-decade mission at Gusto to create a world where work empowers a better life. Building for the long term. \[We're hiring!\]

Anu Hariharan

Board Observer

Leadership Team

Key people at Gusto.

Edward Kim

Co-founder and Head of Engineering at Gusto

Tomer London

Co-founder at Gusto (YC W12). Optimist. Family guy.

Building Gusto for the Long Term

Josh Reeves

We're on a multi-decade mission at Gusto to create a world where work empowers a better life. Building for the long term. \[We're hiring!\]

Anu Hariharan

Board Observer

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Gusto is a technology company that builds an all-in-one platform providing payroll, benefits, and human resources (HR) services primarily for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United States. Its product simplifies complex administrative tasks related to payroll and HR, enabling businesses to manage their teams efficiently and compliantly. Gusto’s platform addresses the challenge SMBs face in navigating payroll compliance, benefits administration, and HR management, transforming these traditionally stressful processes into streamlined, user-friendly experiences. The company has demonstrated strong growth, serving over 300,000 small businesses and continuously expanding its product scope from payroll to a comprehensive People Platform that includes embedded payroll, finance functions, and benefits administration[1][2][3].

Origin Story

Founded in 2011 (initially as ZenPayroll) by Josh Reeves (CEO), Tomer London, and Edward Kim, Gusto emerged from the founders’ recognition that millions of U.S. businesses were still managing payroll manually. The founders, all with prior startup experience, launched the company after graduating from Y Combinator’s Winter 2012 batch, raising a record $6.1 million seed round at the time. The idea was to create a cloud-based payroll service that would simplify payroll and HR for SMBs. Early traction was strong, with 100 customers acquired in the first month post-launch, mostly through organic channels and word-of-mouth, validating the product-market fit. Over time, Gusto expanded beyond payroll to include benefits and HR tools, evolving into a full-stack People Platform with a mission to create a world where work empowers a better life[1][2][4].

Core Differentiators

Product Differentiators: Gusto offers a comprehensive, integrated platform that combines payroll, benefits, and HR management tailored for SMBs, with a focus on compliance and ease of use.
Developer and User Experience: The platform is cloud-based, designed for simplicity and clarity, reducing administrative burden and compliance risk.
Speed and Pricing: Gusto’s pricing is competitive and customizable, allowing businesses to add services like insurance and retirement plans affordably.
Community and Culture: Gusto’s internal culture emphasizes values-driven leadership and customer-centricity, fostering high customer satisfaction (Net Promoter Score above 70) and organic growth.
Geographic and Product Expansion Strategy: The company prioritized accurate, compliant state-by-state rollout in the U.S. before expanding internationally through partnerships, such as with Remote.com, enabling cross-border hiring[1][2][6].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Gusto rides the broader trend of digitization and automation of back-office functions for SMBs, a market historically underserved by complex, expensive enterprise software. The timing is favorable due to increasing regulatory complexity, the rise of remote work, and SMBs’ growing need for scalable HR and payroll solutions. By simplifying these essential but complicated tasks, Gusto empowers SMBs to focus on growth and employee engagement. Its expansion into embedded finance and international hiring reflects evolving market demands and positions Gusto as a key enabler in the future of work ecosystem, influencing how small businesses manage their workforce globally[1][2].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Gusto is likely to deepen its platform capabilities, expanding internationally beyond the U.S. and integrating more finance and HR functions to become the definitive administrative hub for SMBs. Trends such as remote work, global hiring, and the increasing importance of employee experience will shape its trajectory. Its values-driven culture and mission-oriented approach provide resilience and differentiation in a competitive market. Gusto’s influence is expected to grow as it continues to simplify complex business operations, helping SMBs thrive in an increasingly digital and distributed economy[1][2][4].

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Gusto?

Gusto was founded in 2011 by Edward Kim (Co-founder and Head of Engineering at Gusto) and Tomer London (Co-founder at Gusto (YC W12). Optimist. Family guy.).

How much funding has Gusto raised?

Gusto has raised $696.0M in total across 7 funding rounds.

Who are Gusto's investors?

Gusto's investors include 9Yards Capital, Afore Capital, Alumni Ventures, Atomico, Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Broadway Angels, Cool Climate Collective, Craft Ventures, DN Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Eclipse Ventures.