Personio's Bold Move: The Acquisition That Could Redefine HR and Spend

Jan de Vries · 2026-10-06

Personio, the German HRTech unicorn, just made a move that could change how European companies handle everything from payroll to corporate cards. The company announced it has acquired Circula, a spend management platform, in a deal that aims to create the first all-in-one solution for HR, payroll, and spend management in Europe. This acquisition comes on the heels of Circula's $16 million Series A in 2025, which we covered earlier. It's a clear sign that Personio is serious about owning the entire employee lifecycle. ### Why Personio Bought Circula Hanno Renner, CEO and co-founder of Personio, put it simply: "Spend management is one of the capabilities our customers ask us for most, and it's complex to get right in Europe. Just as with payroll, rules change at every border." He's not wrong. Managing expenses across different European countries is a nightmare of regulations and tax laws. Circula has spent the past nine years solving that complexity in a way that's both intuitive and powerful. By bringing Circula into the fold, Personio aims to offer a single platform where companies can manage payroll, expenses, and benefits—all under one roof. That's a first in Europe, and it's a big step toward Personio becoming the operating system for European businesses. ### The European HR Tech Boom This acquisition didn't happen in a vacuum. European HR and workforce management software is seeing a surge in investment. In 2026 alone, we've seen nearly $540 million poured into relevant rounds: - $216 million for Skello, a French frontline workforce platform - $139 million for Factorial, a Barcelona-based HRTech company - $40 million for WorkFlex, an Amsterdam-based workforce compliance platform - $32 million for Moss, a Berlin-based spend management company Moss is particularly interesting as a close German comparison to Circula. Both combine corporate cards, invoices, and reimbursements for SMEs, and both are expanding into AI-powered finance tools. ### What Circula Brings to the Table Circula isn't just another spend management tool. It's already trusted by more than 3,000 European mid-market businesses for expenses, corporate cards, accounts payable, and tax-optimized benefits. Nikolai Skatchkov, CEO and co-founder of Circula, explained the synergy: "Circula has solved syncing employee data between spend management and HR platforms, and hundreds of joint customers already use that integration. The unsolved part is that the tax logic on the expense side and on the payroll side has always been built by two different companies. Joining forces with Personio changes that." For existing customers, it's business as usual: DATEV stays, the existing integration stays, and Circula's expertise stays. What changes is that HR, spend, and now payroll are designed to work as one. ### What This Means for Businesses Personio, founded in Munich in 2015, is already used by over 16,000 companies employing 1.6 million people. With this acquisition, it's shifting into spend management in a big way. The two companies have worked closely together for years, serving many of Personio's European customers. The idea is for expenses to flow into payroll through both payroll integrations and Personio's native payroll engine. Each company brings its own compliance and tax expertise—Personio in payroll, Circula in expenses and benefits. Beyond their joint customer base, both companies are committed to making life easier for tax advisors. They've built communities of hundreds of tax advisors and features that facilitate collaboration. Deep DATEV integrations, which transfer data into DATEV's payroll and accounting systems, will continue to be developed and will eventually merge into a single solution. ### The Road Ahead Starting October 6, Circula will operate as "Circula by Personio," and its team will join Personio. For joint customers, the integration will deepen into a fully connected experience. For Circula customers who don't use Personio, the product will remain available and continue to be developed as a standalone product. Together, Personio and Circula aim to run all business spend—salary, benefits, expenses, and corporate cards—in one integrated platform. If they pull it off, it could be a game-changer for European businesses tired of juggling multiple systems. As Renner said, "Everything a company spends on its people—payroll, expenses, and benefits—comes together under one roof. That's a first in Europe." And in a market where complexity is the norm, simplicity might just be the ultimate competitive advantage.