HR Tech Cercli raises $4M in seed funding; Aims MENA expansion

Dubai-based HR Tech platform, Cercli, has secured $4 million in a seed funding round led by Afore Capital, as announced on September 3, 2024.

The company posted, “We’re thrilled to announce that Cercli (YC S23) has raised $4M in seed funding from Afore Capital, COTU Ventures, Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, alongside the likes of Karim Atiyeh (Ramp), Sebastian Mejia (Rappi), Tony Dong (Rippling), Tony Jamous (Oyster), Allison Pickens, and the founders and executives from unicorns like Kitopi, Careem, and other notable MENA-based startups! We’re building the single modern platform for MENA businesses to hire, manage, and pay their entire workforce — reducing human error and staying fully compliant.”

The HRTech platform, launched in early 2024, serves as a single solution for MENA businesses to hire, manage, and pay their global workforce. It sees a $2 billion market opportunity in the region for payroll alone, as businesses face burdensome compliance costs due to human error. Since its launch, the platform has grown by 25% month-on-month and has paid out over $23 million in employee salaries across 31 countries.

The founders, Akeed Azmi and David Reche, who previously scaled and managed teams at Kitopi and Careem, recognised the need for a comprehensive solution to manage a global workforce experiencing hypergrowth.

Akeed, co-founder of Cercli, remarked, “The cost of workforce-related compliance is one of the biggest challenges for C-suite executives across our region. We built Cercli to replace multiple isolated systems as the singular modern payroll and employee data platform, empowering businesses to manage their local payroll, remote contractors, employer of record, HR, onboarding, and more. Today, we are excited to welcome globally renowned investors whose experience in supporting early-stage companies will propel our growth across our core markets and adjacent product SKUs.”

Co-founder David added, “As we unite the various complex layers of workforce management in MENA, technology and talent lie at the core of our ability to build a powerful yet simplified product. We are extremely proud of having recruited highly skilled engineers from global technology enterprises. With the backing of our new investors, we will double down on growth while attracting world-class talent to accelerate the adoption of Cercli across our regional economy.”

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Amir Farha, Founder of COTU Ventures, commented, “Across the Middle East, technology-powered startups are at the heart of enabling economic transformation. With businesses building diverse global teams, the need for a solution like Cercli is imperative. Akeed and David are highly respected founders with a solid regional track record, a well-validated concept, and have delivered incredible growth since launch, which gives us great confidence in Cercli’s future. We are excited to join them in this journey and can’t wait to see them play a larger role across the region.”

The funding deal also marks Afore’s MENA launch. Anamitra Banerji, co-founder and managing partner of Afore Capital, underlined, “At Cercli, Akeed and David are building to solve one of the region’s largest challenges—managing a global workforce while meeting compliance requirements. This investment reflects our recognition of the massive untapped potential of the MENA region and the possibilities that game-changing founders are enabling here. In just a few months, Cercli has not only assembled a solid team of builders and operators but has also attracted marquee customers.”