Billyard

What Billyard does

Billyard GmbH is a Bonn-based German SaaS company, founded in 2017, that operates a web- and mobile-based platform for administering tax-privileged employee benefits. The company targets HR departments and payroll administrators at German companies of all sizes, bundling 11 benefit modules — including meal subsidies (Essenszuschuss), mobility budgets, company fitness, hardware subsidies, internet allowances, employee gifts, public transport subsidies (ÖPNV), bicycle leasing, a Sachbezug card, childcare subsidies, and recreation allowances — under a unified Flex-Budget cafeteria model. Its core technical differentiator is a proprietary receipt-recognition pipeline that analyses photographed receipts, extracts individual line items, identifies food versus non-food purchases, detects duplicate submissions, and validates transport ticket prices to ensure German tax compliance.

The platform is monetised through a 15% transaction fee on the total monthly employee subsidies per customer, plus a one-time €199 setup fee when fewer than 20 active accounts are billed in the first month. Onboarding requires only a single integration with the customer's HCM and payroll systems, after which the platform produces GoBD-compliant monthly import files for any German payroll program and archives receipts for 10 years on German servers. The company is IDW-PS 860 certified, GoBD-compliant, and GDPR-compliant, which underpins its credibility with regulated enterprise buyers.

Distribution is direct and sales-led, augmented by a 30-day free trial for up to 10 employees, content-driven demand generation (blog, webinars, downloadable info packages), and consultation meetings. Reference customers include DEVK, Haufe Group, Sparkasse KölnBonn, FitX, Delivery Hero, LLOYD Shoes, BFS health finance, and cronn. The company remains focused exclusively on the German market, is privately held with two managing directors (Georg Sommershof and Werner Stapf), operates with 1-10 employees, and has one disclosed funding event (a 2018 grant from DIGITALHUB.DE).

Name

Billyard

Legal name

billyard GmbH

Website

https://billyard.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Billyard is a German SaaS platform that digitises and tax-optimises employee benefits — meal subsidies, mobility, fitness, and more — for HR and payroll teams in German SMBs and enterprises, using proprietary receipt-scanning technology and GoBD-compliant payroll integration.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Employee Benefits Management Software

NAICS

Payroll Services (541214), Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services (54121), Office Administrative Services (5611)

SIC

Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Payroll Software & Payroll-as-a-Service (SaaS) (BPACAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Expense Management & Reimbursements Administration (BPACAIAH)

Keywords

• Employee benefits platform
• Meal subsidy management
• Tax-advantaged benefits
• Payroll integration software
• HR benefits administration

Headquarters

HQ city

Bonn

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Platform Fee (Percentage of Subsidies): The primary revenue stream is a fee of 15% on the total subsidies of all employees of a customer in a given month. Only receipts that have been released by the employee for reimbursement are counted. The fee is independent of the number of accounts created. A one-time setup fee of €199 is charged if fewer than 20 active accounts are billed in the first billing month.
2. One-Time Setup Fee: A one-time setup fee of €199 is charged in the first billing month if fewer than 20 active accounts are billed.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Billyard operates a web-based SaaS platform that enables German employers to digitally administer a portfolio of tax-privileged employee benefits — including meal subsidies, mobility budgets, company fitness, internet allowances, hardware subsidies, public transport tickets, bicycle leasing, childcare subsidies, and tax-free Sachbezug cards — through a single platform. The platform combines a mobile receipt-scanning app for employees with a back-office for HR/payroll, integrates once with HCM and payroll systems, and ensures GoBD-compliant, audit-ready record-keeping under German tax law.

Product overview

Billyard operates as a SaaS employee benefits management platform (Plattform) delivered as a web-based application accessible via smartphone, tablet, or desktop browser. The platform consists of the core billyard web app (https://billyard.de/webapp), a web-based backoffice for HR administrators, and a mobile app for employees. The product portfolio comprises 11 individual benefit modules — Essenszuschuss (Kantine to go), Mobilitätsbudget, Firmenfitness, Hardware-Zuschuss, Internetzuschuss, Mitarbeitergeschenke, ÖPNV-Zuschuss, Dienstrad-Leasing, Sachbezugskarte, Kinderbetreuungszuschuss, and Erholungsbeihilfe — which can be managed individually or combined under the Flex-Budget cafeteria model. Platform-level features include a Lohnbuchhaltung (payroll integration) module and a Personalmanagement (HCM integration) module that provide data synchronization with external payroll and HR systems. The platform is offered exclusively in German-speaking markets with tax compliance focused on German EStG and GoBD regulations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Essenszuschuss (Meal Subsidy / Kantine to go)

Quantifiable outcome

• Employees receive up to 50% of meal expenses reimbursed through state subsidies when meal subsidy is structured as salary conversion
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• All major German payroll software providerscoreTechnology or Integrationbillyard creates monthly import files for payroll software, compatible with all German payroll programs. The platform integrates with HCM and payroll systems through a single integration point, generating CSV or XML files for seamless data transfer.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Lunchit: Finnish-origin meal-subsidy app (now part of Smartly/Wolt) that lets employees pay for lunch and submits invoices for employer reimbursement. Closest direct competitor to billyard's Essenszuschuss module, with the same employer-funded, tax-favoured model and receipt-based flow.
• Spendit: German employee-benefits platform offering prepaid Mastercard (Sachbezugskarte) plus meal, mobility and other tax-privileged allowances. Direct competitor in Germany's cafeteria-model market with similar benefit catalogue and employer-paid pricing.

Broad incumbents

• Edenred (Ticket Restaurant): Global leader in employee benefits, with Ticket Restaurant Germany providing paper and digital meal-voucher cards accepted at tens of thousands of merchants. A broad incumbent whose card-network footprint and scale of marketing it brings to bear against standalone platforms like billyard.
• Sodexo Benefits & Rewards / Pluxee: Sodexo's benefits and rewards division (spun off as Pluxee in 2024) is a pan-European issuer of meal vouchers, mobility and gift cards. Overlaps with billyard's Essenszuschuss, ÖPNV and Sachbezug modules and competes for the same German employer relationships.
• Swile: French employee-benefits super-app with meal-voucher cards, mobility and wellness allowances, actively expanding in Germany and DACH. Comparable catalogue of tax-privileged benefits and a SaaS-plus-card model similar to billyard.
• Personio: Germany's leading HR/people-operations SaaS platform serving thousands of SMBs. A potential bundling threat: Personio could natively integrate benefits administration, displacing standalone platforms like billyard in the German mid-market.

Emerging players

• Belonio: German meal-subsidy and benefits startup with a similar app-based reimbursement flow for employers. Directly comparable as an emerging, mobile-first challenger in the same ESS-Allowance category.

Regional players

• Smart Panke by Probonio / ProLohn: Probonio is a Germany-based accountancy and HR-services firm (parent of ProLohn) that offers catering-card and benefit-administration solutions comparable to billyard's meal voucher / Sachbezug offerings for German SMBs.

Others

• REWE / Payback Meal Card solutions (issuer-side): German grocery and food-retail networks that issue meal-voucher / Sachbezug cards accepted at checkout. Adjacent ecosystem participant rather than a direct SaaS competitor, but part of the meal-subsidy landscape billyard operates in.
• Haufe-Lexware (HR-Tax Compliance suite): Major German publisher of tax, HR and payroll software (DATEV-style products), and a current billyard customer (Haufe Group). An enabling / ecosystem partner providing the regulatory and tax-content backbone that billyard's benefits engine depends on.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/billyardapp
• Xx.com/billyardapp

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Billyard