Deel Raises US$300m as Payroll Platform Competition Grows
Deel has completed a US$300m Series E funding round that values the company at US$17.3bn, the payroll and human resources platform announced on 16 October.
Ribbit Capital joined as a new investor, co-leading the round with existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Coatue Management.
The San Francisco-based company said it would use the capital for acquisitions, to improve its payroll and banking software, and to invest in artificial intelligence products.
Alex Bouaziz, CEO of Deel, told the Financial Times the company crossed US$100m in monthly revenue for the first time in September and generates between US$15m and US$17m in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. “That's a 70% growth rate, not bad,” Alex told the Financial Times.
The company surpassed US$1bn in annual recurring revenue in the first quarter of 2025 and has been profitable for three years, according to Alex.
Infrastructure expansion and acquisition strategy
Deel processes US$22bn in payroll annually and serves more than 35,000 customers across 150 countries, according to the company. The platform supports 1.5 million workers globally.
Founded in 2019, Deel provides services to help companies hire international employees and contractors whilst ensuring compliance with local labour laws.
The platform automates payroll processing for businesses operating across multiple countries.
The company has built a global payroll processing engine now operational in 55 countries, including the United States, Canada, Singapore, South Africa and Brazil, according to the company.
Deel owns 250 legal entities and holds financial licences in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The company has set a target to achieve real-time native payroll processing in 100 countries by 2029.
The company has completed 13 acquisitions and earmarked up to US$500m for further deals this year. Deel recently acquired London-based competitor Omnipresent in a transaction worth around US$15m, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The valuation represents an increase from US$12.6bn following a US$300m secondary share purchase by General Catalyst and Mubadala, Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, earlier in 2025.
Micky Malka, Founder of Ribbit Capital, told the Financial Times: “We have been tracking Alex and team since they started the company during Covid. What they are showing with their revenue is the value of their service. You don't find many that get to that scale in five years in a super-complex business.”
Anish Acharya, a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz who sits on Deel's board, told the Financial Times: “We have been investors since the series A, when it was a wee minnow. The company has just had the best six months in its history. It is a public market company in the very near term.”
Product growth and market position
Since early 2024, Deel's HR products have grown by 600%, with its employee engagement product Deel Engage increasing by 1,400%, according to the company.
Adoption of US-focused products, including payroll and professional employer organisation services, rose by 1,500% over the same period.
Newer offerings have also expanded, according to the company. Deel Immigration grew by 220% and Deel IT, which manages technology equipment for distributed teams, expanded by 410%. The company's global payroll product grew by 450%.
Customers using three or more Deel products increased by 480%, while those using four or more products grew by 1,200%, according to the company.
Deel's approach differs from competitors that typically begin operations in a single market before expanding through partnerships with third-party providers. The company built its infrastructure to operate across borders from its founding.
The platform offers Anytime Pay, which allows employees to access earnings at any point during a pay period rather than waiting for scheduled payment dates, according to the company.
Legal dispute over espionage allegations
The Series E fundraise comes as Deel remains in litigation with Rippling. The rival payroll provider has sued Deel in the US and Ireland, alleging corporate espionage.
In the lawsuits, Alex and his father are accused of recruiting a Rippling employee to pass on secrets and identify potential recruits, using code words and paying him in cryptocurrency.
According to testimony in the case, when confronted, the worker locked himself in a bathroom and deleted data from his phone, which he later destroyed with an axe and disposed of down a drain.
Alex told the Financial Times he could not comment on the litigation but described it as a “frivolous lawsuit, a distraction”. He told the Financial Times: “New investors coming in and existing ones doubling down is a strong signal.”
Deel has sought to dismiss Rippling's claims and has filed a lawsuit in Delaware alleging its rival is attempting to damage Deel's reputation.
Micky told the Financial Times: “We do our own diligence and deep work, we never follow the noise in the news or on Twitter, or the 'he said, she said'.
“We approached them, not the other way around. The company has to deal with what they have to deal with, I will not comment on that, but we have our eyes wide open.”
Anish told the Financial Times: “The people that know the business most intimately, those are the ones that are doubling down, and credible new investors are joining the cap table.”
Rippling, which offers services including onboarding, payroll and corporate cards, raised US$450m at a US$16.8bn valuation in May from investors including Goldman Sachs and Baillie Gifford. Both Deel and Rippling share Coatue Management as a backer.