Organizations around the world have to adapt to accommodate more remote workers. This includes how they onboard new employees and pay them.
Deel, a San Francisco startup that provides payroll and compliance tools to remote businesses, has experienced a huge surge in demand.
Six months ago, the startup raised $156 million for a valuation of $1.25billion. Now, it is announcing that it has raised $425m in a Series D round. This gives it a valuation close to $5.5billion. The Information reported late September that the deal was already in place.
Coatue was the lead in the latest financing. Partners Rahul Kishore (a16z), Neo, Spark Capital and Lucas Swisher were also involved. This round also saw participation from several existing and new backers, including Altimeter Capital (a16z), Neo Capital, Spark Capital, and the YC Continuity Fund.
According to Alex Bouaziz, CEO and co-founder of Deel, the company's global customer base has increased from 1,800 to more than 4,500 in just four months. Among others, Coinbase, Dropbox, and Shopify are among the customers. In the same time, employee headcount has increased from 115 to 403.
Spark Capital led a Series B financing round in September 2020, which saw Deel raise $30 million. It boasted 500 customers at that time. It has 9xed its customer base in just 13 months.
Deel claims that it allows businesses to hire employees and contractors in less than five minutes without the need for a local entity. Deel also claims that it allows companies to pay their teams in over 120 currencies with a single click.
The startup launched several products over the past six months. These include Deel Premium and Deel app to employees, an EOR dashboard, stock options, global health insurance, and three paid plans. Bouaziz stated that Deel also has integrations with NetSuite Ashby, BambooHR, and BambooHR to help automate the HR workflow. This includes onboarding new employees to managing a global workforce.
Deel now has $631 million equity after the latest financing.
Bouaziz said that the company did not seek additional capital following its Series C.
TechCrunch was contacted by Coatue with an exciting proposal that would allow us to continue to provide unmatched global talent acquisition for teams all over the globe. Although the business was already in a solid position, this funding will allow us to scale faster, create more entities, and continue to transform how companies hire across borders.
Bouaziz stated that the new capital will be used to improve contractor and employee experience in Deels' new and existing markets. Bouaziz said that Deels is looking at potential acquisitions and will continue to employ across multiple locations, as it believes in its mission.
The company claims that we don't have an office and therefore there is no excuse for not hiring remote workers.
Bouaziz stated that the way people work has changed fundamentally. It is not going back.
