Payroll platform Deel raises $156 million

San Francisco-based Deel announced a $156 million Series C round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital, bringing the company’s valuation to $1.25 billion. To date, the company has raised over $200 million.

Founded in 2018, Deel’s original offering was an automated payment system for freelancers, which holds a payment from a client until work has been completed and approved, guaranteeing that freelancers are paid for their work. It has since shifted to offer a payroll platform for remote teams that allows clients to hire and pay workers in 150+ countries using a single platform, instead of relying on separate providers to pay teams located in Europe and Asia because labor laws vary by country. The platform takes care of onboarding, tax compliance and invoicing, and customer support is available in 10 different languages. Deel also helps workers get access to insurance and other benefits.

“It all started with pain points we saw companies facing daily, on a global scale. Where others saw obstacles, we saw opportunities. The solution eventually became Deel: a barrier-breaking platform built to simplify international hiring, compliance, and payments in one place. Now, we’ve helped more than 1,800 companies hire international team members and pay them easily in more than 150 countries.”  – Alex Bouaziz, Co-founder & CEO.

Deel has plans to open 80 additional Deel-owned entities before 2022.