Deel

Deel provides software and services that let companies hire, pay and manage workers in other countries. It acts as employer of record through its own local entities, runs in-country payroll, and offers contractor payments, immigration support, HRIS and performance management. Alex Bouaziz (CEO) and Shuo Wang (CRO), who met at MIT, founded the company in 2019 with Ofer Simon after struggling to hire internationally at earlier ventures. Deel went through Y Combinator in 2019. It operates remotely, and its SEC filings list a San Francisco address.

Andreessen Horowitz led a $14 million Series A in May 2020, and a16z partner Anish Acharya joined the board. Spark Capital led a $48 million Series B in September 2020, and Spark partner Yasmin Razavi appears as a director on Deel's later Form D filings. A $156 million Series C in April 2021 made Deel a unicorn; its Form D reports $156.0 million sold. Coatue and DST Global led a $425 million Series D in October 2021, which matches the $428.5 million reported on a Form D. In May 2022 the company raised $50 million at a $12 billion valuation with participation from Emerson Collective. General Catalyst bought in during a $300 million secondary share sale in February 2025. Ribbit Capital and Andreessen Horowitz co-led a $300 million Series E in October 2025 at about $17.3 billion.

Deel is still private. Its annual recurring revenue grew from $4 million in 2020 to $54 million in 2021, and the company passed a $1 billion annual run rate in early 2025. Deel's press page now says it has surpassed $1.5 billion in revenue and serves more than 40,000 companies. It has acquired more than a dozen businesses, including Zeitgold, Paygroup, Legalpad, Hofy and Safeguard Global's payroll division. In 2025 it named former Intuit executive Joe Kauffman president and CFO, a step reported as preparation for a public offering. Deel is in litigation with rival Rippling over corporate espionage claims, and press reports in January 2026 said the U.S. Department of Justice had opened a related criminal investigation.

Deel shows how quickly remote work could compound for early backers. Andreessen Horowitz entered at the Series A about a year after founding. Valuations rose from unicorn status in April 2021 to $12 billion a year later and $17.3 billion in 2025, while secondary sales gave earlier holders some liquidity without an IPO. As of October 2026 no public listing has taken place, so returns for the Series A and B investors remain unrealized on paper.