Personio buys Berlin's Circula to add expense management
What's the deal? Munich HR scaleup Personio has acquired Berlin fintech Circula, which builds travel-expense and spending-management software, the company announced. Terms were undisclosed. From today, the target is branded "Circula by Personio," and its team joins the acquirer.
What does Circula do? Founded in 2017 by Nikolai Skatchkov, Circula covers expenses, company cards, incoming invoices, and tax-optimised employee benefits. It is built for German tax law, integrates deeply with accounting platform DATEVDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → as a premium partner, and targets the same German mid-market firms as Personio.
Why now? "Expense management is one of the features our customers request most often," said Personio chief executive officer Hanno Renner (translated from German). He added that the regulatory complexity varies by country in Europe, "just like payroll."
What's the endgame? Personio wants to bundle everything a company spends on staff — salary, expenses, and benefits — in one place. Renner called that "a premiere in Europe" and a step toward Personio becoming "the system on which European companies will manage their entire workforce in future."
The two firms say they have worked together for years, jointly serving many of Personio's 16,000 European customers.
What changes for customers? For shared customers, the integration becomes a more connected product. Circula clients who don't use Personio keep the product, which will be developed independently. Both firms plan to deepen DATEV integrations and expand ties with tax advisers.
The signal: This is Personio's second acquisition this year, after it bought recruiting-AI startup AurioDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in April. The moves show the scaleup buying its way into adjacent functions to position itself as a single system for European workforce management.
Read more: businessinsider.de
Image credit: Personio
