Deel is a startup that helps other startups spread wings and branch out in the world - their platform lets you hire talent across the globe, establish an entity in new locations, generate the necessary contracts for processes like hiring, and just manage the day-to-day HR.
Besides building the world’s fastest-growing SaaS company with a super diverse team from 80+ countries, Deel is also dedicated to boosting the Estonian startup ecosystem - in 2023, they are supporting the success of the Estonian Startup Awards 2022.
Before we dive into the past, present, and future - how are you doing? How was 2022 for Deel?
2022 was an incredible year for us, we became the fastest-growing SaaS company ever, reaching $100M in annual revenue in just 18 months, beating the likes of Slack and many other great companies. We ended the year with incredible results: 15 000+ happy clients from all over the world, 260 000+ contracts signed and delivered, and grew our own team to 1900+ Deelers. Most importantly: $4.5B+ was paid to people through Deel worldwide.
What was the most impactful startup-related move for Deel in 2022? How was it significant?
We opened over 100 legal entities to support global hiring, and launched our Global Payroll as well as 12 other products. We made 3 acquisitions to expand our services even further.
Tell us about an interesting trend that you see coming up in 2023. What kind of change could it bring along for the Estonian startup scene?
It is clear that remote hiring is not going anywhere and it is not a temporary thing. This really opens up the market to skilled talent from anywhere in the world but handling the compliance and legal side of it is still vastly complex.
This is where we are the experts. The Estonian startup ecosystem is one of a kind however for it to keep thriving, we need skilled talent. Our own talent pool in Estonia is not enough. But also when scaling to new markets you need the local knowledge. We take the hassle out of global payroll and HR admin, and let teams focus on what's important - getting on with work.
Deel’s CEO, Alex Bouaziz at Slush 2022, in a conversation with Sourcegraph's CEO, Quinn Slack, led by Bloomberg's Katie Roof, exploring why and how their organizations continue to embrace the work from wherever model. Photo source: Deel’s social media.
Name a challenge that you see the Estonian startup ecosystem struggling with currently. What could be a solution?
The lack of skilled talent is still prominent, even when some companies have reduced their workforce. The overall situation is that we are still missing people to support our growth.
If you could pick any Estonian startup to become a major global success overnight, who would it be and why?
This really is a tough one as we have so many rising stars. I do believe we can reach the target of 25 unicorns in the next decade, even beyond that. Estonian startups have always been unique as they need to think global from day one, as the Estonian market itself just isn't big enough. We are agile and move fast.
At The Estonian Startup Awards 2022, Deel is giving over the award for The Foreign Founder of 2022. How does this category resonate with you? Can you drop a little teaser on how you will sum up the movements in this category in the past year?
This is what we live and breathe at Deel. We're a company of global founders and our team members are from 80+ countries. Diversity really is not just a buzzword to throw around - it really works. When you bring together the best people from different backgrounds, cultures, and genders, you're able to solve problems much faster as someone will know the solution. Diversity and our differences enrich us and I encourage every team to have this built into their hiring plans.
About Deel
Deel enables companies to hire anyone, anywhere, and makes global hiring easy and compliant. With Deel’s platform, startups can manage day-to-day HR activities such as onboarding new employees, paid time off, expenses, and other adjustments.
The services include the generation of compliant contracts for contractors, and hiring full-time employees in countries where you don't have an entity to manage and pay your own employees in 90+ countries. They can also provide help with establishing new entities and other paperwork for all your global scaling needs.
Estonian Startup Awards 2022 is taking place at 19:00 on January 27, 2023. Make sure you catch the live broadcast to cheer for the biggest success stories of the Estonian startup scene.