Deel, Inc.
Company History
Deel History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 2019 in San Francisco, California
When was Deel founded?
Deel was founded in 2019 in San Francisco, California by Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang, making it 7 years old.
- Founded
- 2019
- Founding place
- San Francisco, California
- Founders
- Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang
- Headquarters today
- San Francisco, California, United States
- Milestones documented
- 9 (2019–2026)
- Current CEO
- Alex Bouaziz
- Acquisitions
- 6
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Deel founded; joins Y Combinator W19 |
| 2020 | Series A and B |
| 2021 | $1.25B Series C, then $5.5B Series D |
| 2021 | Acquired Zeitgold |
| 2022 | $12B valuation; Legalpad acquired; $295M ARR |
| 2023 | PayGroup completed; free Deel HR |
| 2024 | Hofy and Zavvy; $800M ARR |
| 2025 | Rippling lawsuit; $1B ARR; $17.3B Series E |
| 2026 | DOJ probe reported; $1.5B ARR; Clarity acquired |
- Where was Deel founded?
- Deel was founded in San Francisco, California in 2019.
- Who founded Deel?
- Deel was founded by Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang.
- When did Deel start?
- Deel was founded in 2019.
- How old is Deel?
- Deel is 7 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang met at MIT. While working on earlier ventures, they ran into the cost and complexity of paying people in other countries and concluded the problem was compliance, not payments. They founded Deel in 2019, joined Y Combinator's Winter 2019 batch, and started with contractor payments and compliant contracts before building their own Employer of Record entities. When the pandemic pushed companies to hire remotely in 2020, that groundwork put Deel in front of a surge of demand.
Founders
Alex Bouaziz
Alex Bouaziz is Deel's co-founder and CEO. He started Deel in 2019 with Shuo Wang after experiencing first-hand how hard it was to hire and pay people across borders, took it through Y Combinator, and has led it from contractor payments to a full global HR and payroll platform with more than $1.5 billion in ARR. He has driven an acquisitive strategy of about 15 deals and is a named defendant, alongside Deel, in Rippling's 2025 corporate-espionage lawsuit, which he and the company dispute. Alex Bouaziz was born in 1993.
Shuo Wang
Shuo Wang is Deel's co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer. She leads Deel's go-to-market organization and has overseen its sales growth from early contractor-payment customers to more than 40,000 businesses worldwide. Shuo Wang was born in 1989.
Key Milestones
Deel founded; joins Y Combinator W19
Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang launch Deel for compliant international contractor payments.
Source: ycombinator.comSeries A and B
$14M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz (May) and $30M Series B led by Spark Capital (September) as remote hiring took off.
Source: en.wikipedia.org$1.25B Series C, then $5.5B Series D
$156M Series C in April; $425M Series D led by Coatue in October.
Source: deel.com$12B valuation; Legalpad acquired; $295M ARR
Series D extension in May; ARR reached $295M by year-end.
Source: techcrunch.comPayGroup completed; free Deel HR
Closed the PayGroup acquisition and launched a free global HRIS.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHofy and Zavvy; $800M ARR
Launched Deel IT after buying Hofy; reached $800M run rate in December.
Source: deel.comRippling lawsuit; $1B ARR; $17.3B Series E
Rippling sued in March; Safeguard Global payroll deal in March; $1B ARR in June; $300M Series E in October; Joe Kauffman named CFO in November.
Source: deel.comDOJ probe reported; $1.5B ARR; Clarity acquired
WSJ reported a DOJ criminal probe in January; Deel passed $1.5B ARR in H1 and bought Clarity in August.
Source: calcalistech.comMajor Acquisitions
Zeitgold
2021Berlin-based automated bookkeeping and payroll startup.
Legalpad
2022US immigration and work-visa platform.
PayGroup
2023ASX-listed Asia-Pacific payroll and HCM provider, agreed in late 2022 and completed in 2023.
Hofy
2024London-based device provisioning and IT equipment logistics platform.
Safeguard Global (enterprise payroll division)
2025Enterprise payroll business serving 140+ markets, effective March 11, 2025.
Clarity
2026Israeli AI security startup focused on deepfake detection and identity verification, announced August 3, 2026.
Keep researching Deel
Deel Company History FAQ
When was Deel founded?
Deel was founded in 2019 by Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang and took part in Y Combinator's Winter 2019 batch.
How did Deel's valuation grow?
Deel reached $1.25 billion with a $156 million Series C in April 2021, $5.5 billion with a $425 million Series D in October 2021, $12 billion in May 2022, $12.6 billion in an early-2025 secondary sale, and $17.3 billion with a $300 million Series E in October 2025.
How fast did Deel's revenue grow?
ARR went from about $57 million at the end of 2021 to $295 million at the end of 2022, $800 million in December 2024, over $1 billion in June 2025, and over $1.5 billion in the first half of 2026.
When did Deel launch Deel IT?
Deel launched Deel IT after acquiring London-based device logistics company Hofy in 2024.
What happened at Deel in 2025?
Rippling sued Deel over alleged espionage in March, Deel bought Safeguard Global's enterprise payroll division, passed $1 billion ARR in June, raised a $17.3 billion Series E in October, and named Joe Kauffman CFO in November.
What has Deel done in 2026?
The WSJ reported a DOJ criminal probe tied to the Rippling dispute in January; Deel announced $1.5 billion+ ARR and acquired deepfake-detection startup Clarity in August.
How did Deel start?
Deel was founded in 2019 by Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang (who met at MIT). They originally struggled to hire international developers for a previous startup due to complex foreign tax laws, so they went through Y Combinator to build an automated global compliance platform.
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