Central bags $8.6m to transform startup HR and payroll with AI

August 28, 2025

Central, the first autonomous back-office platform for startups, has raised $8.6m in a seed funding round led by First Round Capital.

The round also saw participation from Y Combinator, Ritual Capital, Multimodal Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Surgepoint Capital, and several prominent founders, including Zeus co-founder and CEO Kulveer Taggar, WayUp co-founder and CTO JJ Fliegelman, and WePay co-founder and CPO Richard Aberman.

The company, founded to help startups avoid time-consuming operational tasks, provides an AI-first solution to payroll, HR, accounting, taxes, benefits, and compliance. Unlike traditional tools, Central integrates directly into Slack, allowing founders to handle back-office tasks with simple requests, rather than navigating complex software or endless forms.

Central plans to use the funding to scale its AI-powered platform, expand its expert support team, and build additional integrations and features that remove friction from startup operations.

The platform already serves hundreds of high-growth startups, including Wordware, Wyndly, Poseidon Aerospace, Bitesight, Abel Police, Ulysses, Deepnight, Blaxel, and Diode. To date, Central has processed over $75m in payroll transactions, with nearly one-third of customers switching from legacy providers such as Rippling, Gusto, and Deel.

Central co-founder and CEO Josh Wymer said, “Founders don’t start companies to get buried in payroll forms or state compliance filings.

“This funding allows us to scale what’s working, as hundreds of startups already rely on Central as their AI-powered back office. We’re growing fast because founders want to focus on building, not bureaucracy. Central gives them the operational leverage of a full HR and finance team, without having to hire one.”

First Round Capital partner Meka Asonye said, “Every founder hits a moment where back-office operations start getting in the way of building the business.

“Central is the first solution we’ve seen that doesn’t just streamline the work, it eliminates it. The team possesses a rare combination of firsthand experience, technical expertise, and a profound understanding of what startups truly need. We’re proud to back Central as they redefine what modern, AI-powered operations should look like.”