New York, NY and Dublin (BUSINESS WIRE) - Toku, the global leader in stablecoin payroll, today announced the first employee benefits integration into its stablecoin payroll platform through a partnership with Kota. With this integration, Toku’s platform now delivers Kota-powered health and employee benefits alongside payroll, giving HR teams a seamless, broker-free experience. This partnership comes as the desire among global employees and contractors to be paid in stablecoin continues to mount. In addition to Toku’s payroll and compensation platform, the company’s API is the only worldwide option that allows companies to use their current payroll provider to process instantaneous payments using stablecoin. This partnership advances that utility by giving all Toku users the ability to administer, manage, and disburse health and employee benefits through Kota’s infrastructure and selection of local providers. The strength and convenience of health and employee benefits offerings are among the most significant factors in attracting and retaining top talent. For HR teams at global companies, however, offering benefits is needlessly complex due to distinct regulatory environments across borders. By embedding Kota’s infrastructure directly into Toku, payroll and benefits are unified in one compliant, scalable system, helping employers deliver locally relevant and efficient benefits alongside fast and reliable stablecoin payroll. With this partnership, Toku users can now:
Browse local health plans in each country from popular local providers
Enroll employees and dependents in a few clicks - without the typical back-and-forth with a traditional broker
Automate payroll deductions and tax reconciliation, fully synced with Toku’s stablecoin payroll
Cut broker fees and manual admin, freeing HR teams to focus on their people
Ken O’Friel, Co-founder and CEO of Toku:
“We know the growth of stablecoin is changing the relationship between employer and employee. As the only market resource that allows employers to use their existing payroll system to offer stablecoin compensation, we want our platform to be as comprehensive as possible and serve more than just employee payroll needs. This partnership with Kota solves for that by putting their elite employee benefits infrastructure alongside our ability for employees to be paid in stablecoin. As more companies move to offer on-chain payroll because of the speed and transparency it offers, they need benefits that work just as fast. By integrating Kota directly into Toku, we’ve closed that gap and offered companies a single, seamless system to pay and insure their teams.”
Luke Mackey, Co-Founder and CEO of Kota:
“Just 12 months ago, making health insurance benefits available directly inside stablecoin payroll would have seemed impossible. Kota is now powering that reality with Toku, giving companies and employees access to global benefits in a way that reflects how the modern workforce is and will be paid. It’s another major step toward building benefits infrastructure that keeps pace with the future of work.”
© 2025 Business Wire, Inc.

Toku And Kota Launch Strategic Integration To Bring Streamlined Benefit Access Into Growing Stablecoin Compensation Platform

Kota, the Irish-founded employee benefits platform, has launched the country’s first Instant Auto Enrolment Solution following its €12.6 million Series A investment in May. Their purpose-built solution gets Irish employers Auto Enrolment ready in just a few clicks. With 1 in 4 businesses unprepared and statutory contributions set to begin on 1?January ?2026, employers have […]

We build really good user experiences for the employer and employee Luke Mackey, Co-Founder and CEO Kota

Toku , the global leader in stablecoin payroll, today announced the first employee benefits integration into its stablecoin payroll platform through a partnership with Kota . With this integration, Toku's platform now delivers Kota-powered health and employee benefits alongside payroll, giving HR teams a seamless, broker-free experience.  This partnership comes as the desire among global employees and contractors to be paid in stablecoin continues to mount. In addition to Toku's payroll and compensation platform, the company's API is the only worldwide option that allows companies to use their current payroll provider to process instantaneous payments using stablecoin. This partnership advances that utility by giving all Toku users the ability to administer, manage, and disburse health and employee benefits through Kota's infrastructure and selection of local providers.  The strength and convenience of health and employee benefits offerings are among the most significant factors in attracting and retaining top talent. For HR teams at global companies, however, offering benefits is needlessly complex due to distinct regulatory environments across borders. By embedding Kota's infrastructure directly into Toku, payroll and benefits are unified in one compliant, scalable system, helping employers deliver locally relevant and efficient benefits alongside fast and reliable stablecoin payroll.  With this partnership, Toku users can now:  Browse local health plans in each country from popular local providers  Enroll employees and dependents in a few clicks – without the typical back-and-forth with a traditional broker  Automate payroll deductions and tax reconciliation, fully synced with Toku's stablecoin payroll  Cut broker fees and manual admin, freeing HR teams to focus on their people  Ken O'Friel, Cofounder and CEO of Toku:  “We know the growth of stablecoin is changing the relationship between employer and employee. As the only market resource that allows employers to use their existing payroll system to offer stablecoin compensation, we want our platform to be as comprehensive as possible and serve more than just employee payroll needs. This partnership with Kota solves for that by putting their elite employee benefits infrastructure alongside our ability for employees to be paid in stablecoin. As more companies move to offer on-chain payroll because of the speed and transparency it offers, they need benefits that work just as fast. By integrating Kota directly into Toku, we've closed that gap and offered companies a single, seamless system to pay and insure their teams.”  Luke Mackey, Co-Founder and CEO of Kota:  “Just 12 months ago, making health insurance benefits available directly inside stablecoin payroll would have seemed impossible. Kota is now powering that reality with Toku, giving companies and employees access to global benefits in a way that reflects how the modern workforce is and will be paid. It's another major step toward building benefits infrastructure that keeps pace with the future of work.”

Toku and Kota Launch Strategic Integration to Bring Streamlined Benefit Access Into Growing Stablecoin Compensation Platform

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Seapoint , the financial home for European startups, has raised $3M in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Frontline Ventures, with participation from Tapestry VC and the ex-COOs of Stripe, Revolut, Tide and Tines. After 9 months of building, the team has launched a private beta that is now being used by dozens of VC-backed startups. From today, startups across the UK and Europe can sign up for the beta program at  seapoint.co . Mid-market European companies  (10-250  employees), which includes startups and scale-ups, comprise a third of the European economy and are the engine of future growth. However, these companies are poorly served by today’s financial institutions. They are too big for neobanks, who cater to consumers and the smallest businesses, but not big enough for traditional corporate banking – they are stuck in the middle with no clear financial home. Seapoint interviewed 50+ founders of VC backed startups and found their financial stack is fragmented, manual and costly. Depending on their stage, startups use 4-6 different financial products, moving money between them and relying on expensive accountants to stitch things together. Over 90% still run financial processes manually, despite having multiple bank accounts. And over half earn no interest on their cash deposits. Seapoint is building the financial home that growing companies need. Instead of juggling a half dozen different financial tools, founders get everything in one place: business accounts, corporate cards, payments, and treasury management designed for fast-growing companies. AI then handles the tedious financial work that eats up founders’ time. It automatically processes invoices from your email, manages payroll, categorizes expenses, and creates financial reports. What used to take hours of manual work now happens instantly in the background. The result is simple: founders can tame the chaos of their finance functions, get clarity for the first time and turn cost savings and incremental interest into extra months of runway. One early user is Kota, the fast growing employee benefits platform who recently raised a $14.5m Series A.
Luke Mackey , co-founder and CEO says: “I’m excited. I finally have a bird’s-eye view of my finances, and am better able to make decisions for the business. Seapoint is an immediate win when it comes to managing cards & expenses, paying invoices and running payroll – we used to have multiple vendors for this, now it’s all in one place.”
Seapoint Founder and CEO Sean Mullaney was previously European CIO at Stripe, CTO at AI unicorn Algolia, and has advised the ECB and the Bank of England. He’s joined by former colleagues from Stripe’s European payments team and executives from Tide. Many on the team, including Mullaney, are ex-founders who’ve experienced the problem first-hand. Mullaney says: “AI can transform finances for scaling companies. Within minutes, Seapoint connects to a company’s bank accounts, its accounting software and email. At which point we can give them a real-time view of their business, automate bookkeeping, pay invoices and manage payroll. Seapoint is broader and more powerful than traditional banking. And it puts founders back in control of their finances.”
Will Prendergast , Partner at Frontline, says: “Neobanks have built great products for consumers, but mid-market companies have more complex needs that aren’t yet properly served. With a deeply experienced fintech team, Seapoint is leveraging recent advances in AI to transform the finance stack and solve this tedious issue for all scaling companies.”
Seapoint is currently operating in private beta – startups can join its waitlist at  seapoint.co . People In This Post
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Contributed by: Business Wire  Partnership allows companies using Toku's leading stablecoin compensation platform to offer easy-to-use health and employee benefit options through Kota  Toku, the global leader in stablecoin payroll, today announced the first employee benefits integration into its stablecoin payroll platform through a partnership with Kota. With this integration, Toku's platform now delivers Kota-powered health and employee benefits alongside payroll, giving HR teams a seamless, broker-free experience.  This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250918500964/en/  This partnership comes as the desire among global employees and contractors to be paid in stablecoin continues to mount. In addition to Toku's payroll and compensation platform, the company's API is the only worldwide option that allows companies to use their current payroll provider to process instantaneous payments using stablecoin. This partnership advances that utility by giving all Toku users the ability to administer, manage, and disburse health and employee benefits through Kota's infrastructure and selection of local providers.  The strength and convenience of health and employee benefits offerings are among the most significant factors in attracting and retaining top talent. For HR teams at global companies, however, offering benefits is needlessly complex due to distinct regulatory environments across borders. By embedding Kota's infrastructure directly into Toku, payroll and benefits are unified in one compliant, scalable system, helping employers deliver locally relevant and efficient benefits alongside fast and reliable stablecoin payroll.  With this partnership, Toku users can now:  Browse local health plans in each country from popular local providers  Enroll employees and dependents in a few clicks - without the typical back-and-forth with a traditional broker  Automate payroll deductions and tax reconciliation, fully synced with Toku's stablecoin payroll  Cut broker fees and manual admin, freeing HR teams to focus on their people  Ken O'Friel, Co-founder and CEO of Toku:  “We know the growth of stablecoin is changing the relationship between employer and employee. As the only market resource that allows employers to use their existing payroll system to offer stablecoin compensation, we want our platform to be as comprehensive as possible and serve more than just employee payroll needs. This partnership with Kota solves for that by putting their elite employee benefits infrastructure alongside our ability for employees to be paid in stablecoin. As more companies move to offer on-chain payroll because of the speed and transparency it offers, they need benefits that work just as fast. By integrating Kota directly into Toku, we've closed that gap and offered companies a single, seamless system to pay and insure their teams.”  Luke Mackey, Co-Founder and CEO of Kota:  “Just 12 months ago, making health insurance benefits available directly inside stablecoin payroll would have seemed impossible. Kota is now powering that reality with Toku, giving companies and employees access to global benefits in a way that reflects how the modern workforce is and will be paid. It's another major step toward building benefits infrastructure that keeps pace with the future of work.”  View source version on businesswire.com:  For Kota: Luke Mackey, CEO & Co-Founder, Luke@kota.io  For Toku: press@toku.com  Website details:  Kota.io  Toku.com  Images  Tags  Technology  Professional Services  Health  Payments  Blockchain  Health Insurance  Software  Cryptocurrency  Insurance  Human Resources  Finance  Kota and Toku

Toku is a company specializing in token compensation and tax compliance within the cryptocurrency sector. The company offers a suite of services including token-based payroll, token grant administration, employment compliance, and distributed HR solutions for crypto organizations. Toku primarily serves the needs of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), early-stage companies, and large enterprises within the crypto community. Toku was formerly known as WorkDAO. It was founded in 2020 and is based in Chuo-ku, Japan.

Toku

This partnership advances that utility by giving all Toku users the ability to administer , manage , and disburse health and employee benefits through Kota 's infrastructure and selection of local providers .

Helios specializes in global workforce management, providing solutions in the HR and payroll sector. The company offers a platform for managing employee lifecycle processes including hiring, onboarding, payroll, and compliance across multiple countries. Helios serves businesses that need to manage global teams with offerings such as global payroll, employer of record solutions, and contractor payment management. It was founded in 2023 and is based in Dover, Delaware.

Helios

The partnership with Kota marks a pivotal moment in Helios Global Payments Solutions Inc ' journey , enhancing its ability to deliver unparalleled support to global organizations .

Helios Announces Strategic Platform Integration with Kota to Expand Benefit Access for Customers

VitalityHealth specializes in health and life insurance within the financial services sector. The company provides private healthcare coverage and financial protection for loved ones. VitalityHealth serves individuals and businesses seeking insurance solutions that promote health and financial security. It was founded in 2004 and is based in London, United Kingdom.

VitalityHealth

As a result of the latest partnership , HR and finance teams will be able to view and manage Vitality group medical schemes within the Kota system , bringing the platform a step closer to its mission of becoming a one-stop-shop in employee benefits .

Kota partners with Vitality to mark major UK expansion

Smart engages as a company that operates within the financial services sector, focusing on retirement, savings, and financial wellbeing. The company provides a global retirement platform through Keystone by Smart, offering platform as a service and white label solutions to governments, organizations, and financial institutions, with services including accumulation, decumulation, and workplace auto enrolment. Smart serves the financial services industry, with an emphasis on workplace pension provision and financial wellbeing for employees. It was founded in 2014 and is based in London, United Kingdom.

Smart

Irish Life operates as a company focusing on life insurance, pensions, and investments in the financial services industry. The company offers life insurance, health insurance, retirement pensions, and investment services to help individuals plan for their financial future. It primarily serves the financial services sector. the company was founded in 1939 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Irish Life

Reforge

Bolt

Bamboo

Insurtech 50: The most promising insurtech startups of 2025

Insurtech

Fintech

The HR tech collection includes software vendors that enable companies to develop, hire, manage, and pay their workforces. Focus areas include benefits, compensation, engagement, EORs & PEOs, HRIS & HRMS, learning & development, payroll, talent acquisition, and talent management.

HR Tech

Companies and startups in this collection digitize & streamline the delivery of wealth management. Included: Startups that offer technology-enabled tools for active and passive wealth management for retail investors and advisors.

Wealth Tech

Insurtech 50 2025

Insurtech 50

Pre-Seed

Seed VC - III

Series A

Kota provides an employee benefits platform within the insurance and retirement sectors. It offers health, dental, vision insurance, workplace pensions, and life insurance, all managed through a centralized system that integrates with HR tools. Kota serves companies looking to manage their employee benefits processes and ensure compliance across multiple countries. Kota was formerly known as Yonder. It was founded in 2022 and is based in Dublin 2, Ireland.

Name	Work History	Title	Status
Luke Mackey	Reforge, Bolt, and Bamboo	Founder, Chief Executive Officer	Current
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Name	Luke Mackey	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Work History	Reforge, Bolt, and Bamboo	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Title	Founder, Chief Executive Officer	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Status	Current	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more

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