The news:
- Cercli, a payroll startup founded in January 2024, has raised $4 million in seed funding to build what it describes as the "Rippling for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)." Rippling is a US-based HR and payroll platform companies use to manage local and international workforces seamlessly.
- The funding round was led by San Francisco-based Afore Capital, marking the firm’s first investment in the region.
- The payroll startup plans to use the new investment to expand its team, develop additional products for SMEs and enterprises, and strengthen its presence in core markets across the MENA region.
Cercli expects the move to enhance its mission to simplify payroll management for businesses across the MENA region, a challenge its founders Akeed Azmi and David Reche encountered firsthand while working at two of the region’s largest unicorns, Careem and Kitopi.
Less than a year since it launched, the company claims it has grown 25% month-on-month and processed more than $23 million in employee salaries across 31 countries.
The idea for Cercli came about when Azmi and Reche realised that local businesses, including the companies they worked for, were grappling with complex payroll systems and high compliance costs due to human error.
Azmi, who previously managed global payroll operations at Kitopi, identified a significant market gap.
"I was doing what Deel [HR and payroll company] was doing at Kitopi," Azmi explained to TechCrunch, referring to the process of managing payroll across multiple countries without a reliable system in place.
The duo thought if notable tech companies in the region struggled with payroll issues, less prominent startups would likely have the same problems.
To confirm their suspicion, the Cercli team conducted extensive research, interviewing over 30 companies ranging from corporate giants like Saudi Aramco to small businesses around Dubai.
They discovered that smaller companies often rely on error-prone spreadsheets, while larger enterprises spend millions on complex ERP solutions like Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, and SAP to manage payroll in-house.
Thus began the two founders' journey to address these challenges by launching Cercli to offer a unified payroll management system tailored to the unique needs of the MENA region.
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The software integrates various functions, from payroll processing to compliance management, making it easier for companies to manage local and global workforces.
Azmi said the platform, which aims to cut human error and ensure full compliance for businesses, has replaced individual HRIS systems and other remote payroll solutions like Deel and RemotePass for many because it’s more efficient.
Cercli will focus on mid-market enterprises, where the need for integrated and compliant solutions is most pronounced.
