Real-time compensation platform Pave raises $100m Series C funding, acquires Option Impact

Pave, the real time compensation platform that helps companies plan, communicate and benchmark against the market, announced it has raised $100 million in Series C funding and acquired Advanced-HR from Morgan Stanley. Advanced-HR has a product suite that includes Option Impact, Option Driver and the VCECS (Venture Capital Executive Compensation Survey). Pave’s acquisition of Option Impact from Morgan Stanley increases customer count to 5,700.

The round was led by Index Ventures with Partner Mark Goldberg taking a Board seat. Several new and existing investors also participated, including Andreessen Horowitz, YC Continuity Fund, LocalGlobe, Craft Ventures, Original Capital, Backend Capital and Contrary Capital as well as notable individuals including former LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner and former Facebook VP of HR Tudor Havriliuc.

Matt Schulman, Founder and CEO, Pave: "The Pave journey has just barely started. There are four billion participants in the global workforce, and compensation is a guessing game for every single one of them. We will not stop until every single person in the world knows their value and earns what they deserve."

Pave will leverage the capital infusion and acquisition momentum to accelerate its path towards becoming the world's premiere global compensation platform. Since Pave's inception in 2019, the team has grown to 150 employees and now supports over 2,500 customers. The new funds and acquisition of Option Impact will also accelerate Pave's European market expansion.

Mark Goldberg, Partner, Index Ventures: "Compensation is a visceral problem for every company. For generations, we have been stuck with offline, finger-in-the-air practices when figuring out how much to pay people. These problems are both universal and wildly expensive. The ubiquitous compensation pain felt worldwide is what made me particularly excited when I first met Matt and the Pave team. We are thrilled to fuel their growth to help Pave empower all global businesses and employees." 

The acquisition of Option Impact strengthens Pave's market position. The consolidation of customer bases from both firms into the Pave ecosystem solidifies Pave as the largest compensation benchmarking database for private technology companies in the world.

Through this acquisition, Pave will also partner with Morgan Stanley at Work, an industry leader of equity management and workplace financial solutions including Shareworks and E*TRADE Equity Edge. Morgan Stanley at Work will bring Pave's compensation benchmarking and planning products to their clients in addition to offering a seamless integration with the Shareworks platform.

Kevin Swan, Co-head, Morgan Stanley, Work Global Private Markets: "We could not be more excited to roll out our partnership with Pave. Morgan Stanley has long played a major role in the private markets and startup ecosystem, and is a sought-after partner of many of the most interesting technology companies. Through our work with innovative companies like Pave, we help ensure that game changing technologies are brought to bear to support our clients, advisors, and the growth of our business overall."

www.pave.com