Personio Brings Circula Into Its HR Platform to Connect Payroll With Employee Spending

European HR software company Personio has acquired German expense-management platform Circula, expanding beyond human resources and payroll into the financial processes connected to employees. The companies have not disclosed the financial terms of the transaction. From October 6, Circula will operate as Circula by Personio, with its team joining Personio.

The deal brings together two platforms that already had a long-standing commercial relationship. Personio's software is used by more than 16,000 companies representing around 1.6 million employees, while Circula serves more than 3,000 businesses and approximately 250,000 users. Their existing integration already allows companies to connect employee information, cost centres, approval structures and expense data across the two systems.

Personio, founded in Munich in 2015 by Hanno Renner and co-founders, has built its business around managing core workforce processes, from hiring and employee administration through payroll. Circula, founded in Berlin in 2017 by Nikolai Skatchkov and Roman Leicht, approaches the employee lifecycle from the finance side, covering expenses, travel costs, corporate cards, accounts payable and employee benefits.

The strategic value of the acquisition lies in connecting these previously separate financial workflows. Employee expenses can ultimately feed into payroll, while tax and compliance information can be handled within a more unified system. This is particularly relevant in Europe, where payroll and expense regulations vary significantly between countries. Both companies have also developed extensive relationships with tax advisers and integrations with DATEV, which they plan to continue developing.

For Circula, the transaction follows a €15 million Series A raised in 2025 and gives the company access to Personio's much larger customer base and infrastructure. Its platform will continue to be available to businesses that do not use Personio, meaning existing standalone customers will not be required to switch HR systems following the acquisition.

Personio is effectively broadening its definition of workforce management. Instead of stopping at employee records and payroll, the company can now connect salaries, reimbursements, corporate spending and benefits within the same environment. For finance teams, the integration is intended to reduce manual reconciliation, while HR teams can work with fewer disconnected systems.

The acquisition also strengthens Personio's position in Europe's increasingly competitive HR and financial-management software market. With Circula's expense infrastructure now part of its offering, Personio is aiming to give small and mid-sized European businesses a more unified way to manage the financial and administrative activity surrounding their employees.