Humaans
“Can a modular, API-first HRIS become the connective tissue of the modern HR tech stack by embedding AI-driven people ops automation?”
Founded2020
HQLondon, England, United Kingdom
FoundersGiovanni Luperti, Karolis Narkevicius
Total raised$20M
Latest roundSeries A, 2022
IndustryHorizontal SaaS / HR & Payroll
The story
Founded in 2020 by two former Qubit employees, Humaans started as a lightweight employee onboarding tool and rapidly evolved into a modular HRIS platform positioning itself as the 'core building block' of the HR tech stack. The product philosophy emphasizes API-first design and integrations over monolithic functionality. By 2026 the company launched Athena, an agentic AI layer for people operations, signalling a shift toward AI-native HR automation beyond traditional record-keeping.
Last 12 months
Product timeline
2019
Soft launch of Humaans (then operating as Zero Technology) as an employee onboarding and management platform.· pivot
2020
Formally incorporated and launched after founders left their product agency; product repositioned as a modular HRIS.· pivot
2021
Raised $5M seed round led by Y Combinator to accelerate employee onboarding and management platform development.· banking
2022
Raised $15M Series A to expand HR automation capabilities including payroll, documents, and data management.· banking
2026
Launched Athena, an AI-powered people ops automation platform with pre-built agents and natural language workflow builder.· pivot
The stack
2 layers disclosed in Humaans’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Unified APIs
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
1 more provider across 1 layer, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.