Remote Raises $150M at $1B+ Valuation | Global Payroll & Workforce Management

The Evolving Landscape of Remote Work and Global Talent Acquisition

The traditional notion of commuting to a central office is diminishing for many professionals. Consequently, platforms facilitating this shift towards a broader employment landscape are gaining prominence. Today, one such startup, focused on connecting talent globally, has announced a substantial funding round driven by increasing demand for its services.

Remote Secures $150 Million in Series B Funding

Remote, a company providing tools for managing onboarding, payroll, benefits, and other essential services for remote tech and knowledge workers – whether contractors or full-time employees – has successfully raised $150 million. Job van der Voort, the Dutch-based CEO and co-founder of the New York-based company, confirmed in a recent interview that this funding round values Remote at over $1 billion.

Accel spearheaded this Series B investment, with participation from existing investors including Sequoia, Index Ventures, Two Sigma, General Catalyst, and Day One Ventures.

Strategic Allocation of Funds

The newly acquired capital will be strategically deployed across several key areas. Primarily, it will fuel expansion into new markets. The startup was meticulously constructed with a fully integrated approach. Unlike numerous competitors in the Employer of Record (EOR) service sector, Remote maintains complete ownership of its infrastructure.

Currently, the platform offers HR services as fully operational legal entities in 50 countries, with an ambitious goal of extending this reach to 80 countries by year-end. Furthermore, the platform is slated for enhancements, incorporating additional tools related to benefits administration, equity incentive planning, visa and immigration support, and employee relocation assistance.

“We are reinforcing our core strategy,” van der Voort stated. “Our aim is to maintain complete control over the entire operational stack – entity establishment, operations, in-house expertise, payroll processing, benefits management, and visa/immigration support – addressing the most frequent challenges. We are focused on developing infrastructure products and foundational solutions to ensure superior quality and, ultimately, cost-effectiveness.”

Expanding Partnerships and API Integration

In addition to internal development, Remote will leverage the funding to forge new partnerships and integrate with other service providers within the fragmented human resources market. Two significant announcements coinciding with the funding news highlight this strategy.

Remote has launched a Global Employee API, enabling HR platforms specializing in domestic payroll to integrate and offer international capabilities powered by Remote. Rippling, led by Parker Conrad, is among the first to adopt this API. Moreover, Remote is strengthening its ties with other HR service components; Greenhouse, an applicant tracking system, is now integrating with Remote to streamline the onboarding process for new hires.

Impressive Growth Metrics

The $150 million investment at a valuation exceeding $1 billion represents a substantial Series B round, even within the current favorable market conditions. This achievement follows a remarkable year for the company, particularly since securing a $35 million Series A funding round in November of last year.

Over the past nine months, the customer base has expanded sevenfold, while platform users have increased tenfold. Notably, Remote’s revenues – with packages starting at $149 per month and scaling upwards – have experienced an even more dramatic surge, growing by a factor of 65. This indicates a significant increase in user engagement and reliance on Remote’s technology.

A Competitive Landscape

While Remote operates in a competitive space alongside numerous players – including local specialists and startups like Oyster, Deel, Turing, and Papaya Global – the overall opportunity is substantial and appears to be expanding.

The Paradigm Shift in International Hiring

Historically, international hiring has been a complex, expensive, and organizationally challenging undertaking, often leading companies to avoid it or reserve it for exceptional circumstances. However, this paradigm has undergone a significant transformation in recent years.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a talent shortage in domestic markets fueled competition for skilled professionals, prompting companies to explore international recruitment. Subsequently, employers began considering remote work arrangements for these international hires, as relocation processes became increasingly costly and difficult.

The onset of COVID-19 further accelerated this trend, with remote work becoming commonplace even within company headquarters, reshaping worker expectations and organizational willingness to embrace remote talent from greater distances.

The shift towards remote work within the same country – exemplified by the influx of professionals to cities like Miami and Austin – has naturally extended to international sourcing and management. A growing number of new hires and existing employees, regardless of their location, are now part of the workforce. This is where companies like Remote are simplifying the process of hiring and managing international personnel.

Industry Validation and Future Vision

“Remote is central to a fundamental change in how companies hire,” stated Miles Clements, a partner at Accel. “Their new Global Employee API provides access to Remote’s robust global employment infrastructure and knowledge base, enabling any HR provider to expand internationally with unprecedented speed. Remote’s vision as a financial services provider will consolidate complex processes into a single, trusted platform, and we are excited to partner with the leader in the rapidly evolving remote work category.”

The partnership with Rippling is particularly noteworthy, as it demonstrates the natural progression of the latter company’s growth and the need to address the international component of its services. Utilizing Remote’s API exemplifies a model similar to those seen in communications (Twilio, Sinch) and fintech (Stripe), with Remote leading the charge in HR.

Currently, Remote has no immediate plans to develop a product directly for individual users, despite receiving requests for assistance with payment and compliance. However, the company recognizes the potential and is prioritizing its focus on serving employers.

“Individuals are contacting us for help with job offers and ensuring they get paid. We’ve considered building a product for them, but we have significant priorities with employers first,” van der Voort explained. He emphasized the importance of providing a comprehensive service, which would require “vetting every major employer,” a task currently beyond Remote’s capacity.

A Remote-First Culture

Remote’s commitment to remote work extends to its internal operations. Co-founded by two European expats in San Francisco, the company’s founders experienced firsthand the challenges and opportunities of managing remote teams.

Van der Voort previously served as VP of Product at GitLab, scaling the company from five to 450 remote employees (and is now a Remote customer). CTO Marcelo Lebre was VP of Engineering at Unbabel, a startup focused on overcoming international communication barriers.

Today, Remote’s leadership team is geographically dispersed, with the CEO based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and the CTO in Lisbon, Portugal. The company itself has grown to 220 employees from 50, all working remotely across 47 countries since November 2020.

“The world looks very different today,” van der Voort concluded. “The biggest change for us has been the size of the organization. We’ve grown from 50 to over 200 employees, and I haven’t met any of them in person! We strive to embody our values of bringing opportunity everywhere by hiring globally, mirroring the solutions we provide to our customers.”