Compa has closed a $35 million Series B round led by Jump Capital, with participation from Crosslink Capital, Storm Ventures, Permanent Capital, HR Tech Investments LLC (an affiliate of Indeed, Inc.), and PagsGroup. The AI-driven compensation platform is changing how big companies decide what to pay their employees, using a network of nine million real-time market observations to replace outdated methods.

For decades, enterprise companies have set salaries using annual surveys and spreadsheets. It’s a system that’s always been a step behind. By the time survey results arrive, the market has already moved. And when you’re managing billions of dollars in payroll, that lag creates real problems.

Why Old Compensation Methods Don’t Work Anymore

The pressure is building. Boards want more precision. Finance teams demand better justification. Labor markets swing unpredictably. Yet most companies are still making pay decisions with tools designed for a slower, more stable world.

Compa’s approach is different. The platform pulls market data directly from systems of record across its customer network, creating a live view of what companies actually pay for salary, equity, and incentives. Then AI analyzes that data to surface risks, identify trends, and answer questions that used to take compensation teams weeks to figure out.

From Weeks of Work to Minutes

The new funding will help Compa expand as more companies look to automate what’s been an intensely manual process. Compa’s AI agents connect to verified data and continuously run market analysis across different roles, experience levels, and locations. Work that previously ate up entire weeks now happens almost instantly.

It’s not about replacing human judgment. Compensation decisions still need experienced professionals making the final call. But when those professionals have better data and faster analysis, they can respond to market shifts before their competitors do.

Mike Foley, Director of Compensation at OpenAI, has seen the difference firsthand. “In an era of accelerating market change and growing diversity in compensation signals, Compa replaces static surveys with current market data and AI agents to help compensation teams operate with greater speed and strategic clarity,” he said. “The platform pairs advanced technology with rigorous, practitioner-informed design, reflecting a deep understanding of enterprise compensation in complex, fast-evolving markets.”

The Stakes Keep Getting Higher

Charlie Franklin, Compa’s Co-founder and CEO, understands what compensation teams are up against. “Compensation teams are responsible for managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios in volatile markets,” he explained. “With stakes this high, adopting AI to help compensation experts make smarter decisions is an essential competitive mandate. Compa’s global data network and innovative technology make this possible, and this investment accelerates our ability to scale agentic AI to every enterprise.”

Think about what that means in practice. A single percentage point error in how you benchmark salaries across thousands of employees can translate to millions in overspending or lost talent. Getting it right matters enormously, and the tools haven’t kept up with the complexity.

Why Investors Bet on Focused AI

Tarun Gupta, Partner at Jump Capital, sees Compa as part of a bigger trend in enterprise software. “Most enterprise AI today is still generic,” he noted. “The real impact comes when AI is applied to specific, high-stakes decisions, and compensation is one of the biggest and least modernized of them. We invested in Compa because it pairs high-quality, real-world compensation data with a disciplined approach that Fortune 50 companies already rely on and trust. That combination gives decision-makers far better visibility and control over how pay decisions are made.”

It’s a bet on vertical AI—software built for one specific job instead of trying to do everything. Compensation fits that model perfectly. The problems are well-defined, the data exists, and the value of better decisions is easy to measure.

Building Something Fortune 500 Companies Trust

Compa’s growth reflects how quickly enterprise buyers are moving toward data-driven compensation. Global organizations use the platform to keep pay decisions consistent across their entire business, even when market conditions keep changing.

The company pulls data automatically from HR systems, applicant tracking tools, and stock platforms. That replaces the manual survey process with current benchmarks for cash compensation, equity packages, job offers, and skills-based pay. Privacy controls keep the data secure, and the insights are designed to hold up under scrutiny from finance, legal, and board members.

Compa was founded to bring modern intelligence tools to a function that’s historically operated with limited technology support. The platform combines real-time market data with AI agents designed to work like experienced compensation analysts—thinking through problems, making recommendations, and explaining their reasoning.

Compensation Moves from Back Office to Boardroom

Labor markets are volatile, and that’s pushed compensation from a back-office task to something boards actively monitor. Software that delivers real-time data and automated analysis is becoming essential infrastructure, not a nice-to-have.

Compa is helping write the playbook for what AI-powered compensation looks like. The platform eliminates manual benchmarking, delivers fast answers when business leaders ask questions, and produces pay decisions that can be defended in front of finance teams, lawyers, and board members.

The Series B gives Compa resources to reach more enterprise companies while continuing to build out its AI capabilities. Compensation teams are under pressure to work faster without sacrificing accuracy or compliance. That pressure isn’t going away, which means demand for intelligent automation will only increase.

Origianl Creator: Ekaterina Pisareva
Original Link: https://justainews.com/companies/funding-news/compa-gets-35m-series-b-for-real-time-pay-analytics/
Originally Posted: Tue, 27 Jan 2026 05:30:51 +0000