Norwegian HR tech startup Fronted has raised approximately €1.7 million (NOK 18 million) in a seed round led by Swedish investment firm Kaknäs Invest, with participation from Skagerak Capital, existing investors Sondo, Antler and Play Capital, and new angel investors such as Eirik Frøyland Rime and Felix Erhardt. Fronted provides an AI-native platform that combines cross-border recruitment, Employer of Record (EOR) services and legal entity setup and management to help companies expand internationally. The company will use the funding to accelerate sales and market expansion, extend its operational infrastructure from 20 to 70 countries, and further develop its AI-powered payroll engine.
Fronted provides an integrated platform for international hiring and business expansion. Its services include cross-border recruitment, Employer of Record (EOR) solutions, and legal entity setup and management. The platform uses AI and automation to support administrative processes such as payroll calculations, tax reconciliations and employment contract generation across jurisdictions. Headquartered in Norway, Fronted serves businesses expanding internationally and has established operational infrastructure in more than 20 countries.
Marius Blaker Høgevold, co-founder and CEO of Fronted, comments, “Fronted was built on a simple premise: operating in any country should be as easy as operating at home. Fast-growing companies are too often held back by legacy providers that stack hidden fees, lock clients into long contracts, and offer terrible customer support. We are building the invisible software layer that takes away the headache of cross-border administration, giving ambitious companies a trusted Nordic partner to scale globally with total transparency and ease. We are proud to be a Nordic alternative to global HR giants,firmly on the side of the growth companies we serve.”
The company aims to simplify the administrative and regulatory work involved in hiring employees across borders. Businesses expanding into new markets often need to coordinate local employment requirements, payroll providers and legal entities across multiple jurisdictions. Fronted combines these services in one platform rather than requiring customers to work with separate providers.
Its technology is designed to automate recurring administrative processes while accounting for local labour laws and employment requirements. The company describes its architecture as AI-native, with the goal of reducing manual work and operating costs while maintaining support for customers navigating international expansion.
The NOK 18 million seed round was led by Kaknäs Invest, with Skagerak Capital also participating. Existing investors Antler and Sondo Capital followed on, alongside new angel investors.
Fronted reported that its annual recurring revenue (ARR) increased fourfold over the 12 months preceding the announcement. The company serves close to 100 businesses across Europe and the United States, including Easee, Auk, Two, Kravia, Prop Firm Match and Wheel.me.
The new capital will support the company’s commercial expansion and the development of its operational infrastructure. Fronted plans to expand its coverage from more than 20 countries to 70, while investing in its AI-powered payroll engine.
Tone Kvåle, Investment Manager, Skagerak Capital, comments, “The biggest opportunities in software right now are in services where the software does the work itself. Global employment is a good example. Fronted delivers the full service with the technology doing the heavy lifting, so the model gets better and cheaper with every process it automates.The founders have proven that they can build successful companies before, and now also with Fronted.”
The expansion would extend the company’s reach across more markets where businesses may need support with employment compliance, payroll and the establishment or management of local entities. Fronted’s approach centres on combining these functions within one service rather than relying on multiple vendors.
Kaknäs Invest led the round, while Skagerak Capital joined as an investor. Both firms pointed to the opportunity to apply software and automation to international employment services, a market where many processes still depend on manual operations.
Patrik Hamilton, CEO of Kaknäs Invest, comments, “Employer of Record and entity management are among the fastest growing categories in global HR tech, but the market is still dominated by players that have built their platforms and delivery on manual processes and legacy systems. Fronted challenges this with an AI-native architecture that makes them structurally different, not just faster but fundamentally more scalable. We at Kaknäs Invest very much look forward to supporting and following Hans, Marius and the rest of the team as they build the company.
Fronted was co-founded by CEO Marius Blaker Høgevold, formerly chief operating officer at cryptocurrency exchange Firi, and Hans Nyvold Kjellby, who co-founded Y Combinator-backed SafetyWing. The wider leadership team includes Chief Strategy Officer Håvard Liltvedt Dalen and executives with experience at international HR technology companies Deel and Remote.
The company operates with a distributed team of 30 employees across ten countries, reflecting the cross-border workforce model its platform is designed to support.
Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/fronted-raises-e1-8m-seed/
