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Kota Secures $14.5 Million Series A to Build Employee Benefits Infrastructure for the Digital Age
With regulatory approval and a growing client base, Kota is redefining how companies deliver and manage benefits.
Kota, a Dublin-based tech company focused on insurance and employee benefits, has raised $14.5 million in Series A funding. The round, led by Eurazeo with support from EQT Ventures, Northzone, Frontline Ventures, 9Yards, and Plug and Play, brings the company’s total funding to $22.9 million.
The announcement was accompanied by a major regulatory milestone: Kota has received authorization from the Central Bank of Ireland, making it one of the few technology platforms licensed to deliver employee benefits across Europe. The dual developments mark a critical step in Kota’s effort to create a scalable infrastructure for managing benefits in modern workplaces.
Solving a Known Problem in a Legacy System
Employee benefits are one of the most significant costs for companies, yet they remain poorly understood and inefficiently delivered. Kota addresses this gap by offering a unified platform and API that allow businesses to integrate benefits into their existing systems with minimal friction.
Many small and medium-sized businesses struggle with outdated processes—managing benefits through email, PDF forms, and fragmented broker systems. HR teams, often operating with limited resources, can spend more than half their time on administrative tasks. Kota aims to remove that burden by giving both employers and employees tools that make benefits simple, transparent, and easy to manage.
By integrating directly with insurance providers, Kota offers employees real-time visibility into their coverage. The platform is designed to fit the way teams work today—distributed, digital-first, and accustomed to seamless financial experiences.
Regulation and Infrastructure for Scale
With its new license from the Central Bank of Ireland, Kota can now deliver regulated benefits solutions across European markets. This positions the company as a rare example of a fintech-style platform operating under formal insurance regulation.
The platform already connects with major insurance carriers including Vitality in the UK, ONVZ in the Netherlands, Sanitas in Spain, and Allianz Global Care. These integrations allow Kota to offer localized solutions while maintaining a single, scalable infrastructure. With this foundation, the company plans to onboard more insurance partners and expand its service to reach new regions and customer segments.
The funding will support team growth, carrier partnerships, and continued development of the company’s embedded benefits solution, which enables HR and payroll platforms to offer insurance coverage directly to their users.
Embedded Insurance for HR and Payroll Systems
Kota has also developed an embedded product offering—Kota Embed—which allows HR software and payroll providers to integrate benefits natively into their platforms. This enables businesses to offer insurance without switching systems or dealing with external brokers.
The embedded approach mirrors successful fintech models that prioritize simplicity, speed, and direct integration. Through API connectivity, HR systems can now add benefits as part of their core offering, making it easier for companies to comply with requirements and support their teams without added overhead.
Remote.com, Helios, and Irish Life Health are among the early adopters of this embedded service, signaling growing demand for streamlined insurance tools within workforce platforms.
Meeting Expectations of a New Workforce
For many younger workers, benefits like health coverage and retirement plans are not optional perks—they are fundamental parts of compensation. However, legacy systems often fail to deliver these services in a way that meets the expectations of employees who are used to mobile-first, self-service platforms.
Kota bridges this gap by designing user experiences that resemble popular consumer finance apps. Employees can enroll in plans, view their coverage, and access benefits without needing to navigate complex portals or chase paperwork. This helps increase engagement, reduce confusion, and ensure that benefits are seen as valuable parts of a compensation package.
For employers, the benefits are just as clear. A single platform replaces the patchwork of tools and brokers many businesses use today, reducing administrative costs and improving reliability.
Backing from Leading Investors
Eurazeo led the Series A round and noted Kota’s strong technical infrastructure and market fit. The firm, which has previously backed companies such as PayFit and Qonto, expressed confidence in Kota’s ability to reshape how businesses manage benefits.
Investors highlighted Kota’s ability to integrate across markets, maintain regulatory compliance, and offer a product that meets the needs of both small startups and scaling enterprises.
Kota’s current clients include high-growth firms such as Remote.com, Poolside, Carwow, Zoe Health, Tines, &Open, and Protex AI. These companies rely on Kota to deliver benefits to distributed teams across Europe—a use case that has become increasingly common in the post-pandemic workplace.
The Road Ahead
Kota plans to use its new funding to expand its workforce, deepen its carrier network, and accelerate customer acquisition across Europe. With regulation secured and infrastructure in place, the company is now focused on reaching more businesses that are seeking simple, scalable, and compliant ways to offer employee benefits.
The company’s model reflects a broader shift in how financial services are being integrated into non-financial platforms. Much like fintech firms have changed the delivery of banking and payments, Kota is applying the same principle to insurance—embedding benefits into the tools companies already use.
By bringing transparency, automation, and user-friendly design to an outdated part of HR, Kota is positioning itself as the default infrastructure for employee benefits in the digital era.
