Ben Thompson began as an employment lawyer. After working abroad he came back to Australia and spent time at Employment Innovations, his father's firm. His clients kept saying the hardest part of their business was employing people, and he could advise only one employer at a time.
For a while he ran four companies from one floor above Wynyard Station in Sydney. Some early pay periods were not guaranteed to make payroll.
The platform launched in 2014 under the earlier name KeyPay and grew from payroll into hiring, pay, benefits and compliance. It was remote-first early. In 2020, during COVID, Thompson ran webinars and resources for employers.
Later the company bought his own Employment Innovations for A$43 million and the Canadian rival Humi for A$112 million. It has more than 1,700 staff, is valued above A$2 billion and has added AI recruitment agents. Investors include Hostplus and Airtree.