Remofirst, the global HR solution for remote workers, has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Octopus Ventures. The round was also supported by existing seed investors QED (2022), Mouro Capital(2022) and Counterpart Ventures (2022).
Founded in 2021, by Nurasyl Serik (CEO), and Volodymyr Fedoriv, this round brings its total funding to just under $40 million. Founded at the height of the pandemic when firms were forced to manage employees remotely, Remofirst has developed a platform that enables organisations to manage their employees across over 180 countries. The solution provides global payroll and compliance features for both employees and contractors.
In only three years Remofirst has expanded by ten times since it received its seed funding in 2022 and already has thousands of customers. Those customers are naturally multinational and include ABBYY, Microsoft, BCG, World Health Organization, Mastercard and Weavr.
Janice Kay Mamo – Human Resources Manager, Weavr, commented, “The customer support at Remofirst has been amazing — I love that our team has a dedicated account manager to help us with any things that come up for our remote team members, such as issuing work permits. I was looking for a simplified EOR service where I didn’t have to be so involved and could just pass our remote candidates along to be onboarded. Remofirst has made this experience very easy and personalized for us, and I am happy to be working with them to employ our team members in other countries.”
New funding to propel further growth
This latest round will see Remofirst invest in new products and services to extend its platform. It will also look to hire new executives to strengthen the leadership team. The company has at least fourteen open positions and is currently looking for a Head of Finance (US), a Head of Legal, and a Head of Product Management.
Nurasyl Serik, CEO and Co-founder of Remofirst commented, “We’re on a mission to radically improve hiring of remote employees around the world, and enabling the ‘freedom to work’ anywhere. In these tough economic times and slow VC deployment for bigger rounds, this additional funding is a huge milestone for Remofirst, because it validates our vision for the future of globally distributed teams and our superior solution that is affordable and easy to use.”
Remofirst will also use the funding to extend its platform and services. Remofirst operates as an employer of record (EOR) provider. It hires employees and contractors on behalf of clients (fees start at $199 per month for an employee and $25 for a contractor).
The advantage is that it enables organisations to set up operations in countries without having to set up the required corporate infrastructure. Remofirst takes on full responsibility for all aspects of the hiring, including compliance, payroll, taxes, and benefits. Operating internationally is complex, it often requires a lot of understanding of the local regulations and legislation to remain compliant. Remofirst removes that barrier.
It also makes it easier for organisations to operate a full global remote working policy. It no longer matters whether candidates are based in Australia, Germany, Brazil or the US; companies can bring the best talent on board to fuel international growth or obtain the best experts.
Octopus Ventures sees the opportunity
Octopus Ventures led the round and will also take a seat on the board through Nicholas Sando, Principal at Octopus Ventures. Sando is also a board member of Cobee, Minimum, TaxScouts, Colonia and several others in the October portfolio. He also Co-founded Mojo and Snagtag.
Sando commented, “We’re excited to lead Remofirst’s Series A, supporting their vision of making it easy and affordable for businesses of all sizes to take advantage of talent around the world. As more companies move operations globally, this funding will help Remofirst significantly expand their presence in international markets ─ such as the UK ─ offering their remote hiring solution to address a huge market need.”
Remofirst’s COO and Co-founder, Volodymyr Fedoriv added, “Our competitors talk about equal opportunity for hiring talent globally but they charge high fees that create a barrier to entry for most companies. We are truly democratizing access to a global workforce with our pricing, with an approach that customers have been waiting for. Our competitors also talk a good game about compliance and take shortcuts when setting up their local operations ─ while we ensure compliance because we partner with highly-experienced in-country legal experts.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Remofirst is a full-service employer of record and is taking advantage of the shift to remote working. This funding will help accelerate the growth of the company as it looks to expand. It will be interesting to see how it extends the product further. Its last major update was in November 2023, when it extended its ERO capabilities, enhanced Contractor payments functionality and enhanced the contractor application.
