Deel

Deel, Inc. is a Delaware-incorporated payroll and human resources company that operates remotely with a globally distributed workforce. Its platform lets businesses hire, pay and manage international employees and contractors, combining HRIS, payroll, compliance, benefits, performance management, immigration/visa support and IT equipment provisioning in a single system. Deel acts as an employer of record, hiring workers through its own local entities on a client's behalf and managing compliance with local employment law, benefits, health insurance, equity and tax matters. It also supports contractor engagement, compliant contract templates aligned to local labor laws, and international payments with withdrawals in multiple currencies.

The company markets a suite of more than ten products, including Deel Payroll, Deel HR, Deel IT, Deel Benefits, Deel Hire and Deel Mobility. It states support for 150+ currencies (including crypto), AI-driven approval workflows for hiring, payroll and IT processes, and roughly 2,000 local experts paired with in-house compliance logic. Deel says it owns about 250 legal entities, runs in-house in-country payroll teams in over 130 countries, holds financial licenses in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU, and is building a proprietary global payroll processing engine live in 55+ countries with a target of real-time native payroll in 100+ countries by 2029. Its DPayments subsidiary had obtained 26 US state money transmission licenses as of early 2025.

Deel entered Y Combinator in the Winter 2019 batch and has grown through both organic expansion and acquisition, buying 13 companies by the end of 2025 across payroll, HR software, immigration, device management, money transfer and compensation management.

Founding story

Co-founders Alex Bouaziz (CEO) and Shuo Wang (CRO) met while studying at MIT, connecting over shared backgrounds as international students and children of entrepreneurs. After struggling to hire and pay qualified friends and workers abroad for their earlier ventures because of visa issues and local labor laws, they started Deel to let companies hire without borders. Wikipedia additionally names Ofer Simon as a co-founder and Dan Westgarth as COO. Before Deel, Bouaziz co-founded the investment fund Sarona Ventures and was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 Finance list in 2020; Wang co-founded Aeris Cleantec and served as CTO until its acquisition by iRobot.

Business model

B2B software and services: companies use Deel to hire, onboard, pay and manage international workers, with Deel providing employer-of-record employment through its own local entities, contractor management, native and global payroll, PEO services in the US, benefits administration, immigration support and IT equipment. Products can be adopted as point solutions or as an all-in-one platform, and Deel reports strong multi-product attach (a 480% increase in customers using three or more products and 1,200% increase in those using four or more since early 2024).

Recurring subscription/service revenue measured in annual recurring revenue; Deel reported crossing $1 billion in ARR and a first $100 million revenue month in September 2025, with three consecutive years of profitability.

Traction

Deel reports 35,000-40,000+ customers, 1.5+ million workers supported across 150+ countries, $20-22 billion in payroll processed annually, a 90+ enterprise NPS and a 4.8/5 rating across roughly 14,462 reviews. It surpassed $1 billion ARR in Q1 2025 with 75% year-over-year revenue growth, recorded its first $100 million revenue month in September 2025, and has been profitable for three consecutive years (profitable since 2022 per CNBC). Since early 2024 it reported HR product growth of 600%, Engage 1,400%, US payroll/PEO adoption 1,500%, Deel Mobility 220%, Deel IT 410% and global payroll 450%.

Latest developments

In October 2025 Deel announced a $300 million Series E at a $17.3 billion valuation, co-led by new investor Ribbit Capital with existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Coatue Management, to be used for infrastructure expansion and AI-powered payroll and HR products. Earlier in 2025 the company crossed $1 billion ARR, disclosed a $300 million secondary share sale that added General Catalyst, and said it was preparing for a possible IPO as soon as 2026. On August 19, 2025 a federal RICO suit against Deel was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and on August 29, 2025 a former Rippling executive dropped a related surveillance lawsuit.