- Payroll and compliance platform company Deel announced it has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Spark Capital
Payroll and compliance platform company Deel announced it has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Spark Capital. Including this funding round, has raised over $48 million including seed investment and participation from YC Growth Fund and notable angel investors including Nat Friedman, Ryan Petersen, John Zimmer, William Hockey, and Alexis Ohanian.
The global pandemic has been accelerating the shift to remote work as many U.S. businesses are giving teams the freedom and space to decide where to work from, thus ensuring safety while also improving quality of life and operational costs. By removing the need for employees to have a physical office presence, it has opened up the opportunity to recruit and hire talent from anywhere in the world.
Deel’s platform essentially solves the largest logistical challenges that come with moving to a distributed and global workforce: payroll and compliance. And onboarding and paying workers across borders is complex with specific currency and labor law requirements that vary by country. This can be both costly and time consuming.
Deel is supporting over 500 companies and thousands of employees on their teams in more than 140 countries. And the platform provides contracts and templates – legally vetted and compliant – to be used for tax forms and localized contracts, automated payment, invoicing and receipts and customer support. Both independent contractors and full-time employees are supported by Deel’s technology.
During the pandemic, Deel experienced rapid growth. And Deel’s customer base has doubled and there are now 14 times as many individual full-time employees and independent contractors on the platform since May.
Typically, the venture industry depends on in-person meetings for meeting and evaluating investment opportunities, the investment landscape amidst COVID-19 has seen more firms forgo the handshake and opt for videoconferencing and other tools. And Deel pitched and completed both its Series A and B funding entirely online through the use of remote collaboration and social and video platforms.
Spark Capital General Partner Yasmin Razavi reached out to Deel co-founder and CEO Alex Bouaziz over Twitter DM. And this kicked off an 6-week back-and-forth series of Zoom meetings and calls in which the investment was made.
Deel not only supports its customers’ remote business operations, but the company also benefits from its own product as well by employing a remote workforce spanning 15 countries.
Deel was co-founded in 2018 by MIT alumni Bouaziz and Shuo Wang. And the leadership team combines deep technical expertise with a strong partner network for regulatory and compliance — which includes over 150 international labor law and accounting experts.
KEY QUOTES:
“We’ve squashed the conventional notion that there’s a particular radius in which you can attract talent. By bridging localized compliance and payments and then automating it, we are making a complex and manual process seamless and redefining U.S. companies’ hiring pool to literally include qualified candidates from anywhere.”
— Deel co-founder and CEO Alex Bouaziz
“We have filled 15 marketing and engineering roles with employees in 7 countries, using Deel’s platform. Deel saves us hours of time every month and ensures we’re compliant in our team members’ local regions.”
— Julie Bissinger, Head of Operations for Near, Inc
“Technology will be the great enabler in achieving workforce equality. Deel’s platform makes more diverse hiring choices possible. Unbound by geography, businesses can hire the best person for the role, wherever and whoever they may be.”
— Alexis Ohanian Sr., co-founder of Reddit and early-stage investor
“I was interested in Deel from the get-go as the best suited to be the winner in a category on the cusp of huge growth. The hurdles employers face when hiring employees in other global regions can be so Herculean, they ultimately give up on hiring their ideal candidate and settling for the most hirable. Deel eliminates those hurdles and enables employers to hire and onboard efficiently, allowing them to get to work faster.”
— Spark Capital General Partner Yasmin Razavi
