Special Series Part 1: These Future Of Work Startups Won Big 

Editor’s note: This story is Part One of our series spotlighting late-stage startups that not only raised big funds but doubled their valuations as well. Read Part Two on the Web3 space, Part Three on the future of health care, and Part Four on cybersecurity.—Special Projects Editor Christine Kilpatrick

A host of companies are seeking to re-engineer the future of work. And the market is rewarding them.

At the forefront are startups that support rapidly growing international remote teams with onboarding and payroll automation across many countries. Closely following are companies that focus on recruitment, reskilling and compensation.

These future of work companies raised funding at a significant increase in their valuations compared to 2021 when funding was abundant and cheaper. Of the seven companies featured below, four are San Francisco-based and four are connected to startup accelerator Y Combinator.

Remote work and payroll

The most highly valued company in our list is San Francisco-based Deel, a payroll and compliance company for international employees and contractors. The company raised $50 million in May 2022 at a $12 billion valuation—up 118% from its prior funding seven months earlier. New investors include Laurene Powell Jobs‘ Emerson Collective with existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital and Y Combinator Continuity Fund joining the round according to Axios. The investors from the latest funding gain 0.4% of the company.

This is a small funding compared to Deel’s prior $425 million Series D in October 2021 led by Coatue at a $5.5 billion valuation. And six months earlier in 2021, the company raised its Series C, valuing it at $1.3 billion and led by Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital and Y Combinator Continuity Fund.

The company’s revenue has more than doubled in four months. It announced $100 million in ARR in April 2022, after previously hitting $50 million in ARR as of December 2021 according to Deel CEO and co-founder Alex Bouaziz.  In October 2021, the company claimed it had 4,500 customers in 150 companies and can pay employees in 120 currencies. Its customers include Shopify, Intercom and Airtable. Y Combinator led its pre-seed round in 2019.

The second most highly valued company is San Francisco-based Rippling, co-founded by Parker Conrad who was a co-founder of Zenefits. Rippling automates all the administrative work around payroll and onboarding employees, connecting all of those SaaS apps in one environment. It raised a Series D in May 2022 of $250 million led by Bedrock Capital and Kleiner Perkins at a $11.3 billion decacorn valuation. That’s up 73% from its Series C valuation of $6.5 billion seven months earlier. Forbes reported annual recurring revenue above $100 million as part of its recent funding announcement.

Another startup offering international payroll and compliance for employees and contractors is Remote, also based in San Francisco. The company raised its SoftBank Vision Fund-led Series C of $300 million in April, valuing the company at $3 billion. That valuation is up 200% from Remote’s Series B nine months earlier, led by Accel. In March, Remote launched its software interface to enable partners to integrate employee records without new logins.

Also on the list is North Carolina-based Oyster , which provides recruitment services in over 180 countries and manages payroll and benefits for these distributed employees. It raised a $150 million Series C led by Georgian, which valued the company at $1 billion, up 111% from its Series C just 10 months earlier. The earlier raise valued Oyster at $500 million and was led by New York growth equity investor Stripes.

Learning

Brisbane, Australia-based corporate learning platform Go1, raised a $100 million funding valued at $2 billion led by Five Sigma in June. The company was valued at $1 billion for its Series D 11 months earlier in July 2021 which was led by AirTree Ventures, Salesforce Ventures 1and SoftBank Vision Fund. Go1’s seed round was led by  Tank Stream Ventures in 2015.

Compensation

San Francisco-based Pave is a real-time platform that allows employers to track compensation. It raised a $100 million Series C in June led by Index Ventures which valued the startup at $1.6 billion. This is up 300% from its $0.4 billion valuation in its Series B funding 11 months earlier in August 2021 led by Y Combinator Continuity Fund. The company raised its seed funding in 2020.

Talent

London-based Multiverse provides apprenticeship jobs in technology to those without college degrees. The company raised a $220 million Series D at a $1.7 billion valuation co-led by new investor StepStone Group and existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst with a valuation increase of 94%.

In 2021 the firm raised a $130 million Series C led by Bond and D1 Capital Partners valued at $900 million. The company expanded to the U.S. in 2021. Lightspeed Venture Partners led its seed round in 2018.

Check back for Part Two of our series, which features high-valuation startups in the Web3 sector. 

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Learn More