Business banking platform Tide has acquired Onfolk, a UK SME payroll solution.
With integrations for accounting, pensions and people systems, the move strengthens Tide’s admin proposition for small businesses.
More than one in 10 small businesses in the UK now use the Tide app. After the acquisition, Onfolk will be integrated into the Tide app and become Tide Payroll.
The acquisition boosts Tide’s mission to help small businesses save time and money by providing a key service for its 650,000 UK customers to further run their businesses from the Tide app.
Tide Payroll will connect seamlessly with Tide’s flagship finance and admin solutions, including invoice generation, payment services and expense cards to save members time and money.
Onfolk is an HMRC-recognised payroll software integrated with pension providers and accounting providers. For payroll administrators and payees, it generates payslips with intuitive explanations for each item.
Other features include the automation of tax code notices and pension allocations, storage of payroll documents, with connectivity between payroll and accounting. Onfolk’s existing customers will be able to keep using the Onfolk platform.
As part of the acquisition, the Onfolk team will join Tide and lead Tide Payroll. Onfolk was founded by Michael Colley, Naz Malik and Charlie Thomas in 2020, and was backed by Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator in 2021.
Onfolk is Tide’s second acquisition following the purchase of Funding Options in early 2023, and will help support the company to diversify, and ultimately help drive member and revenue growth in the UK and globally.
“Payroll is a significant part of running any successful small business and we want to help our members simplify that process,” said Oliver Prill, CEO, Tide.
“Once again, Tide is making an admin heavy process simple for small business owners by connecting it seamlessly with the myriad of disjointed finance and admin tasks. As a result, small businesses can increasingly run their business almost entirely from a single intuitive app.
“M&A is a key part of Tide’s growth strategy, and we are delighted to welcome the Onfolk team to Tide. Their expertise will accelerate our product roadmap, and support our diversification strategy.”
Michael Colley and Naz Malik, co-founders of Onfolk, stated: “We’re very excited about Onfolk becoming part of Tide, a leader in supporting small businesses.
“We’re fully aligned with their mission to save business owners time and money, and we see this as an incredible opportunity to make payroll even more accessible to businesses around the world.
“As part of Tide, we’ll help businesses spend less time on admin and more time focusing on what they do best, leading and growing their business.”
Earlier this month, Tide passed one million customers globally, which includes 650,000 in the UK and 350,000 in India, where it launched in December 2022. It entered the German market in May.