Deel's mission and early origin story

Alex Bouaziz is the co-founder and CEO of Deel, the global payroll and workforce infrastructure company that has rapidly become the #1 platform for hiring and paying employees worldwide. Founded in 2019, at only 7 years old, Deel has scaled to $1.4B+ ARR, a $17.3B valuation, and 40K+ customers across 150+ countries. 

In this conversation, Alex breaks down how Deel became one of the fastest-growing software companies in the world, building the infrastructure that allows companies to hire, manage, and pay talent anywhere globally.

We discuss Deel’s unique M&A playbook, including 10+ acquisitions used to rapidly expand payroll, HR, and compliance capabilities across markets, and how the company has built its own global payroll infrastructure across countries.

Despite its rapid growth, Deel has also achieved profitability while scaling past $1B+ in revenue, an uncommon milestone for a company growing at this speed.

Alex also discusses the company’s recent $17.3B valuation & funding round backed by Ribbit Capital, Coatue, and a16z, how Deel scaled globally, and why he believes AI and autonomous agents will fundamentally reshape the future workforce.

Topics include:

• Scaling Deel to $1.4B+ ARR

• Serving 40K+ companies across 150+ countries

• Deel’s 10+ acquisition M&A strategy

• Building a profitable hypergrowth SaaS company

• The future of global hiring and distributed teams

• How AI agents will transform the workforce

Subscribe to Sourcery for conversations with the founders and investors shaping the future of technology, AI, and global business.

Alex Bouaziz: https://x.com/Bouazizalex  

Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 

Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊

YouTube : https://youtu.be/Z6rW2hVczn0

𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒

• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery

• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at GetVCX.com

• Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery

• Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery

Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!

https://www.sourcery.vc/

Disclosure

Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.