Gusto’s revenue crossed $1 billion this year, actual money collected, not projected contract value. The 14-year-old payroll platform now serves more than 500,000 small businesses in the United States, adding 50,000 in a single quarter. Nigeria has 39 million small and medium enterprises. Most still run payroll manually. No local platform has come close to solving what Gusto solves. That gap is the story.
The distinction between Gusto’s figure and what its rivals report matters. Deel and Rippling both crossed $1 billion in ARR, a forward estimate of contract value. Gusto crossed $1 billion in revenue it has already collected. At a last-known valuation of $9.3 billion, it looks underpriced against Deel at $17.3 billion and Rippling at $16.8 billion, both reporting forward-looking figures.
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Five Straight Quarters of Acceleration
Gusto has delivered five consecutive quarters of accelerating revenue growth. More than half of its revenue now comes from products beyond payroll, health benefits, retirement plans, tax credits, HR compliance, and contractor payments.
Gusto says AI is now responsible for half its new code and resolves half of all support queries before a human gets involved. Both figures translate directly into margin improvement and faster product releases.
The company completed two significant acquisitions. It brought retirement plan provider Guideline into the fold for around $600 million, rebranding it as Gusto 401(k). It acquired Mosey, a compliance infrastructure startup, to power a forthcoming business compliance product.
Rahul Patil of Anthropic joined Gusto’s board in December 2025. His presence signals that Gusto’s AI ambitions run deeper than surface-level automation.
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What Nigeria’s HR tech builders must take from this
Gusto’s growth contains a structural lesson. The company did not win by being the cheapest payroll tool. It won by becoming the operational backbone of small businesses, handling payroll first, then layering in benefits, tax, compliance, and HR until switching became genuinely costly.
Nigeria’s formal employment sector is growing. Yet most SMEs with under 50 staff still handle PAYE, pension remittances, and NHF contributions through manual processes. The compliance burden is real, the market is large, and the infrastructure to serve it barely exists.
Founders who build compliance infrastructure now, not just payment APIs, will own this category.
As for Gusto itself, a company generating real revenue at this scale, accelerating each quarter, and staying out of courtrooms, is a straightforward IPO candidate. A public debut in 2026 looks unlikely given market conditions. Gusto declined to comment on timing.
Gusto took 14 years to get here. Nigeria’s version does not have that kind of time.
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