Deel (company)

Last updated
Deel
Company type Private
Founded2019;6 years ago (2019)
Founder
  • Alex Bouaziz (CEO)
  • Shuo Wang (CRO)
  • Dan Westgarth (COO)
Headquarters San Francisco, California
Products Professional employer organization services and payroll services
Revenue$500m [1]  (2024)
Number of employees
3,000 [2]  (2024)
Website deel.com

Deel is an Israeli-American payroll and human resources company, [3] based in San Francisco, California. [4] [5] The company provides hiring, payments, and workforce management services for companies hiring international employees and contractors. [6] [4] [3]

Contents

History

Deel was founded in 2019 by Alex Bouaziz, Shuo Wang, and Ofer Simon. [7] Bouaziz and Wang met while studying at MIT in 2013. [8] The founders launched Deel after encountering difficulty hiring international workers for their previous ventures. [8]

Deel launched after entering the Y Combinator startup accelerator in 2019. [9] The company then raised several rounds of funding. In May 2020, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led a $14 million Series A round. [10] In September 2020, the company raised a $48 million Series B. [3] In April 2021, Deel raised $156 million in a Series C round, becoming a unicorn. [11] In October 2021, Deel raised $425 million in a Series D. [12] They also raised $50 million in May 2022, valuing the company at $12 billion. [13]

As Deel expanded, Forbes reported "a five-person “Navy SEAL” team" went from country to country to quickly incorporate new local business entities. [7] It also began to make acquisitions. By 2023 it had acquired several companies providing HR platforms such as Zeitgold, Roots, PayGroup, and Capbase. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

In January 2023, it reported having 2,000 employees. [13]

In March 2023, former workers claimed they were miscategorized. [19] [20] In June 2023, California state senator Steve Padilla sent a formal request to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency asking them to investigate the allegations. [21] [22]

In March 2024, Deel announced its acquisition of Zavvy, a 'people development' startup based in Munich, Germany, as well as PaySpace, an African-based payroll engine. [23] The company reported it had reached a milestone of $500 million in annual recurring revenue [24] and a headcount of 3,000. [25]

A federal RICO lawsuit filed in January 2025 against Deel accuses the company of flouting anti-money laundering regulations and facilitating the evasion of U.S. sanctions against Russia. [26] [27] The lawsuit stems from a court-appointed receiver seeking to recover damages from an SEC case against Brent Seaman of Surge Capital Ventures. [28] While the complaint alleges Deel violated certain Florida licensing requirements, it acknowledges the company has since obtained proper licensing in the state. [26] Deel denies any wrongdoing, calling the lawsuit "baseless," and continues to expand its compliance efforts through its DPayments subsidiary, which has obtained 26 state licenses for money transmission as of early 2025. [28] Deel has not been accused of any wrongdoing by the SEC. [28]

Acquisitions

In July 2024, Deel acquired London-based Hofy, a company that helps manage office equipment for remote hires. [29]

Products

The company offers a platform for companies to hire remote workers. [4] [14] Deel hires employees through their own local entity on a company's behalf, acting as the employer of record [30] and managing compliance with employment laws in each country. [8] As of August 2021, it owned 45 entities. [14] As of 2023, Deel operates in more than 150 countries. The company processes international payrolls, allowing withdrawals in different currencies. [31]

Deel also assists with creating contracts that comply with local labor laws using templates. [3] [31] It also helps workers access health insurance [4] [3] and provides immigration advice about visa processes to companies with digital nomads. [32]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Deel acquires Africa's PaySpace, says it's crossed $500M in ARR". Techcrunch. 2024-03-05. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  2. ↑ "Deel Careers | Deel".
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Deel nabs $30M more for payroll, compliance and other tools to run global workforces". TechCrunch. 9 September 2020. Retrieved 2021-10-17. Deel, which was founded in Paris but is now based in San Francisco, has made its name mainly with payroll and other HR services aimed at distributed workforces, will bring Zavvy's services onto the same platform as its existing services — a nod to the company shifting focus to work more with distributed and non-distributed workforces.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Son, Hugh (2020-05-21). "Remote work start-up Deel scores $14 million investment led by Andreessen Horowitz". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  5. ↑ "Deel Raises $156M at $1.2B Valuation to Expand Its Global HR Software Solution | Built In San Francisco". www.builtinsf.com. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  6. ↑ "Deel Acquires Assemble to Redefine Global Compensation Management". Entrepreneur . December 20, 2024. With Assemble onboard, Deel cements its position as a trailblazer in workforce management, supporting businesses in 100+ countries to scale smarter, faster, and more compliantly.
  7. 1 2 Cai, Kenrick. "$12 Billion HR Startup Deel Changed Global Hiring. Now It Wants To Change Regulators' Minds". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  8. 1 2 3 Stoller, Kristin. "Future Of Work—The New HR Frontier: These Tech Startups Are Helping Businesses Adapt To A Remote World". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  9. ↑ "Deel: Payroll for remote teams". Y Combinator. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  10. ↑ "Meet the startups helping other startups go remote". Protocol — The people, power and politics of tech. 2020-06-04. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  11. ↑ Azevedo, Mary Ann (2021-04-21). "Remote hiring startup Deel raises $156M at a $1.25B valuation after 20x growth in 2020". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  12. ↑ Azevedo, Mary Ann (2021-10-18). "With customers like Coinbase and Shopify, remote hiring startup Deel raises $425M at a $5.5B valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  13. 1 2 Cai, Kenrick. "HR Company Deel, Now Valued At $12 Billion, Nears $300 Million Of Revenue". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
  14. 1 2 3 Kokalitcheva, Kia (2021-08-03). "Don't call it "outsourcing": Hiring employees globally is getting easier". Axios . Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  15. ↑ "Done: Deel welcomes new acquisition ZeitGold". Geektime. 2021-08-04. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  16. ↑ Burroughs, Callum. "Coatue-backed HR startup Deel just made its first acquisition since the New York hedge fund invested in the company at a $5.5 billion valuation". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  17. ↑ "HR Company Deel Completes PayGroup Acquisition". www.businesswire.com. 2022-11-21. Retrieved 2023-07-30.
  18. ↑ Azevedo, Mary Ann (2023-01-11). "Deel enters equity management space with acquisition of Capbase". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  19. ↑ Price, Jenna Gyimesi, Rob. "Workers at $12 billion HR startup Deel say they may have been misclassified as independent contractors. Deel says they have not". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-07-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ↑ Azevedo, Mary Ann (2023-07-06). "Deel under fire for alleged questionable hiring practices, advice to other companies". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-07-30.
  21. ↑ "Senator Padilla Urges Investigation into Deel after Company Flaunts Skirting California Worker Protection Laws". California State Senator Steve Padilla. 2023-07-06. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  22. ↑ C. Padilla, Stephen (June 23, 2023). "Deel Letter from Senator Stephen C. Padilla to California Labor and Workforce Development Agency" (PDF). Senate of California.
  23. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (2024-02-28). "Deel, the $12B HR startup, acquires Zavvy to step up consolidation play". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  24. ↑ Kene-Okafor, Mary Ann Azevedo and Tage (2024-03-05). "Deel acquires Africa's PaySpace, says it's crossed $500M in ARR". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  25. ↑ "Deel Careers". www.deel.com. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  26. 1 2 Rodden, Michael (2025-01-09). "Deel Accused of Money Laundering, Sanctions Failures in Lawsuit". The Information . Retrieved 2025-01-14.
  27. ↑ Manjarres, Javier (2025-01-10). "Deel Slapped With Federal RICO Lawsuit Alleging Money Laundering". The Floridian. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
  28. 1 2 3 Conrad, Jennifer (2025-01-13). "Payroll Startup Deel Accused of Money Laundering". Inc. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
  29. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (2024-07-18). "Deel acquires Hofy to build its own IT device management service". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  30. ↑ "HR Tech Startups Could Help Businesses Expand Their Remote Teams And Services". CB Insights Research. 2021-02-03. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  31. 1 2 Orbach, Meir (2020-09-10). "Israeli-American automated payroll platform Deel raises $30 million". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  32. ↑ Smith, Morgan (2023-07-14). "Canada just launched a new digital nomad program—here's what you need to know". CNBC. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
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