Cercli, a Payroll Startup Raises $4 million in Seed Funding

Cercli, a payroll startup, has secured $4 million in seed funding with ambitions to revolutionize payroll management across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. 

Cercli’s seed round also had participation from COTU Ventures, Y Combinator, and Rebel Fund, alongside the likes of Karim Atiyeh (Ramp), Sebastian Mejia (Rappi), Tony Dong (Rippling), Tony Jamous (Oyster), Allison Pickens, the founders and executives from unicorns Kitopi, Careem and other notable MENA-based startups.

Cercli Gets Funding To Expand Further In MENA Region

Less than a year into its operations, Cercli has experienced rapid growth, claiming a 25% month-on-month increase and processing over $23 million in employee salaries across 31 countries. 

This expansion highlights the immense demand for efficient payroll management solutions in emerging markets, a demand that is equally relevant in Nigeria’s rapidly growing economy. 

With a $2 billion market opportunity in MENA for payroll alone and businesses facing burdensome compliance costs due to human error, Cercli is on a mission to transform how companies manage their workforce through one platform.

Cercli’s founders Akeed Azmi and David Reche previously scaled and managed teams at Kitopi and Careem, two of the region’s largest unicorns, where they recognized the need for a comprehensive solution to manage an international workforce experiencing hypergrowth.

Akeed Azmi, co-founder, of Cercli, said, “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.” 

Also Read: Chpter, Kenyan e-commerce Startup Raises $1.2 Million in Pre-seed Round

Cercli To Develop Products Tailored To All Enterprises

The Cercli platform is designed to integrate payroll processing with compliance management. It also seeks to replace outdated systems like error-prone spreadsheets and overly complex ERP solutions. 

With this new investment, Cercli is poised to expand its team, develop additional products tailored to SMEs and large enterprises, and strengthen its market presence in core MENA regions—a strategy that could potentially include expansion into the Nigerian market.

Cercli has attracted top talent from across the world, coming from regional unicorns such as Kitopi and Careem and global giants including Microsoft, ADP, and Accenture.

Note that 80% of Cercli’s team is invested across product and engineering, as the company builds horizontally across multiple product verticals and markets.

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