Deel becomes a unicorn as remote working becomes the norm

For the past year, nearly everyone has been confined to their home offices, working from home as the pandemic forced businesses across the globe to operate remotely.

As the whole world shifted to remote working, fintech Deel burst onto the scene and in just 11 months has reached the ever-elusive unicorn status. 

Deel closed its $156m Series C earlier this week, bringing its valuation up to $1.25bn, the same as veteran digital banking app Monzo.

The start-up has raised a remarkable $200m in the past 11 months completely remotely. Starting with a $14m Series A back in May backed by Andreessen Horowitz and then a $30m Series B in September 2020.

Deel’s latest round was led by YC Continuity, adding Ali Rowghani, Managing Partner of YC Continuity, to its board in the process. Other investors in the round include Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital.

Of his latest appointment, Rowghani, said: “Deel was at the forefront of remote work pre-pandemic, and it will be long after.”

“The team is uniquely equipped to remove the obstacles of remote work so companies hire the best talent in the world, instead of only those nearest to them."

The remote working fintech plans to use the fresh cash to ramp up its global expansion plans, opening up 80 more Deel-owned entities before 2022, and expanding its employee numbers, which currently stands at over 120 staff from 30 countries.

Deel’s mission is to “provide companies with a simple payroll platform to hire anyone, anywhere.” This, it adds, is achieved by bridging localised compliance and payments and "automating it all". 

Thanks to a surge in home working, Deel has seen its growth exponentially increase, ending the year 20 times larger than it started, and working with more than 1,800 companies, ranging from publically traded firms down to small businesses.