Digital Payroll Vendor Deel Reaches Unicorn Status on $156 Million Funding Round

The round was co-led by existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital. Dara Khosrowshahi, Lachy Groom, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jeff Wilke, and Anthony Schiller also participated in the round, among others. With a valuation of $1.25 billion, Deel has emerged as a market leader in the global payroll and compliance space.

Deel allows businesses to hire anyone, anywhere, in a compliant manner. Hiring and onboarding international employees or contractors takes under 5 minutes, with no local entity required. Paying them in 120+ currencies takes just a click.

Deel was co-founded in 2018 by MIT alumni Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang. Deel was already focused on this pain point when the pandemic hit, putting the startup in a prime position to help companies adjust to the dramatic shift in working and hiring norms.

“We built Deel to be the solution for companies wanting to hire anywhere around the world, from Argentina to Zambia,” said Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz. “We set out to solve a problem that the majority of businesses found inherently daunting. With Deel, we were able to consolidate everything into a product people trust and enjoy using to hire, to pay, and to give their global team members the best experience possible. Now with this third sizable investment, we can’t wait to open even more doors for businesses, employees, and contractors around the world.”

In 2020, Deel grew by 20X in revenue and now supports over 1,800 businesses worldwide. Deel’s explosive growth led to back-to-back funding rounds, totaling $206 million in under a year. With this Series C financing, Deel plans to continue international expansion by tapping into new markets and setting up 80 new Deel-owned entities across the world in 2021. Deel also plans to grow its team by hiring exceptional talent across the globe. Additionally, Deel will continue to improve, build, and grow their product offerings across the board by focusing on features such as employee equity and an open API.

“The way people work is fundamentally changing and Deel is leading the way,” said Ali Rowghani, from YC Continuity. “Deel was at the forefront of remote work pre-pandemic, and it will be long after. The team is uniquely equipped to remove the obstacles of remote work so companies hire the best talent in the world, instead of only those nearest to them.”

“I’m excited to be investing in Deel the platform, which streamlines the complex minutiae of payments and compliance, removing the obstacles so that companies worldwide can go ahead and hire the best talent anywhere, instead of just the nearest talent to them,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO.

Deel’s own team is entirely remote, and has grown from 7 employees to over 120 across 26 countries since January 2020. CB Insights projects the industry for virtual HR software will grow to $43 billion by 2026 as technology platforms like Deel help businesses make the transition to remote-first work.