New American ‘unicorn’ Deel plans expansion into Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – American startup Deel, owner of a payroll platform for remote workers, announced on Thursday, April 21st, a US$156 million Series C funding round. The investment, led by Andresseen Horowitz and YC Continuity, which gives the company the status of unicorn (market valuation higher than US$1 billion), will have part of the funds allocated for expansion into new markets, including Brazil.

Cristiano Soares, Deel’s director in Brazil, says that the startup’s goal is for the country to represent 10% of its global revenues.

“There is a strong demand by innovative companies in the country for specialized technology service providers and the local supply is still very limited; Deel’s solutions act to simplify the hiring and management of foreign workers,” he comments.

Deel’s platform, based on the principle of software by subscription (SaaS), allows companies to hire international service providers by paying US$ 49 per employee to the startup as an intermediary, which takes care of all the bureaucratic steps, such as governance under local laws and payment adjusted to the exchange rate. There is another modality, more complex, where Deel hires employees, bearing all the charges, and the company only pays the salary.

Not yet officially launched in Brazil, Soares says that Deel started operations in the country in February and already has 12 clients in its portfolio, including companies of caliber such as Nubank, iFood, and Rocket Chat. “Our GMV grew five times from February to here and we haven’t even launched the platform yet, meaning there is strong demand for the services and we want to take advantage of this good moment in the market.”

Founded in 2018, Deel grew 20-fold in 2020. The company received US$44 million in investments last year, and has well-known Silicon Valley investors such as Alexis Ohanian, founder of the social network Reddit, in a bid to internationalize the work that the pandemic accelerated.

Besides the focus on international expansion, which will also prioritize countries like South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Mexico, among others, Cristiano Soares says that the investment received now will seek opportunities for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that create synergy with Deel and also in the expansion of the platform, with the hiring of staff and the creation of new features.

Source: Estadão

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