What’s the Deel with Remofirst, and why are VCs playing musical chairs?
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Hello, and welcome to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
This is our Friday episode, in which we dig through the most critical stories and themes from the week.
Today on the pod, Mary Ann and Alex dug into a whole mess of news, including:We have an interview coming out tomorrow that we’re stoked about, and will be back on Monday.
Remofirst raises $25M to take on Deel and Rippling in the global HR tech spaceIn the world of HR tech startups, there are the Davids and the Goliaths.
Deel and Rippling are the Goliaths, both having raised millions of dollars in venture capital.
But Remofirst, which just secured $25 million in Series A funding, is proving to be a very worthy David.
Remofirst, an HR tech startup, touts that it hires its clients’ employees and contractors in more than 180 countries on their behalf without those companies having to set up local entities.
“We see SMBs as an underserved segment of the market,” Serik told TechCrunch.
On Tuesday, the HR startup announced it is acquiring African-based payroll and HR software and services company PaySpace in a deal that marks its largest acquisition to date.
Financial terms of the PaySpace acquisition were not disclosed.
Separately, San Francisco-based Deel also revealed Tuesday that it has crossed $500 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), organically, outside of this acquisition.
With the various buys, Deel claims that it now owns the full HR stack — entities, local teams (legal, HR payroll), and local payroll engines — across six continents.
Theirs is one of the best technologies we’ve ever seen … We had to do a lot of convincing.”In a written statement, PaySpace Director Clyde van Wyk said: “Like PaySpace, Deel strives to evolve its offering through disruption.
Consolidation is afoot in the world of HR services, with larger players snapping up interesting, smaller startups en route to more robust unit economics and providing one-stop shops for customers looking to cut down on suppliers.
In the latest development, Deel — the $12 billion HR business out of Paris — is scooping up Zavvy, a Munich-based AI-based “people development” startup building tools for personalized career progression, training, and performance management.
Finally, Deel will also make its existing Deel HR tool, which was free for organizations of up to 200 users, now “free” for existing customers regardless of their size.
Originally Deel approached Zavvy with a partnership proposal before making an offer to buy it outright.
By Zavvy’s and Deel’s accounts, the former company has not found it hard to build its business in a tighter market.
Remote payroll startup Deel acquired fintech Capbase for an undisclosed amount in a cash and stock deal, TechGround has exclusively learned. Capbase, based in San Francisco, streamlines company operations by…
