San Francisco, March 6, 2024 – Remofirst, the most affordable HR solution for employing talent worldwide, today announced that it has raised $25 million in a Series A funding, in a round led by Octopus Ventures, with participation by existing investors QED, Mouro Capital and Counterpart Ventures. Remofirst helps businesses easily and compliantly employ an international workforce in more than 180 countries, with its all-in-one Employer of Record (EOR) and International Contractor solutions. Octopus Ventures is one of the largest and most active venture capital investors in the U.K. and Europe.
Founded in 2021, Remofirst now has thousands of customers (Zocdoc, World Health Organization, Mastercard and more), and has grown its revenues by 10X since its seed round funding in early 2022. Remofirst intends to use the new funds to offer new products and services, and add key new executives.
“We’re on a mission to radically improve hiring of remote employees around the world, and enabling the ‘freedom to work’ anywhere,” said Nurasyl Serik, CEO and Cofounder of Remofirst. “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 global distributed teams and our superior solution that is affordable and easy to use.”
Remofirst enables organizations to pay, manage, and onboard full-time employees and contractors, with its solution that manages a global workforce in one place, with the highest levels of compliance. As an EOR provider, Remofirst, hires its client’s employees and contractors on their behalf in more than 180 countries (with fees starting at $199 per month for an employee and $25 for a contractor). It eliminates the need to spend months and tens of thousands of dollars setting-up local entities to hire employees located in other countries. The Remofirst solution leverages local in-country legal experts to ensure that its contracts are compliant in all locations, avoiding misclassification risks.
Remofirst, as an EOR, takes full employment responsibility for all aspects of international hiring including compliance, payroll, taxes, and benefits.
The company’s mission is shaped by the experiences of the cofounders, both immigrants–Nurasyl Serik (from Kazakhstan) and Volodymyr Fedoriv (Ukraine)–who saw a need for a simple and affordable way for companies to legally and compliantly employ global teams. Both Serik and Fedoriv were recognized in 2023 as Forbes 30 under 30 executives.
“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,” said Nicholas Sando, Octopus Ventures. “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 Cofounder, 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.”
Octopus Ventures led the Series A round with support from existing investors QED, Mouro Capital, and Counterpart Ventures. Nicholas Sando from Octopus Ventures will be joining the Remofirst board. Prior to its Series A round, Remofirst raised $14.1 million in Seed funding in 2022.
ABOUT OCTOPUS VENTURES
Octopus Ventures is one of the largest and most active venture capital investors in the UK and Europe, investing in and supporting the people, ideas, and industries that are changing the world. It has built expertise across seven sectors: B2B software, climate tech, consumer tech, deep tech, fintech, biotech and health, and has backed more than 180 businesses across the UK and Europe, including successes like Zoopla, WaveOptics, and Depop. Octopus Ventures invests in people and teams from as early as ideas on a page all the way through to the later stages of growth, providing capital, expertise, and partnership.
Octopus Ventures manages £1.9 bn for retail and institutional investors and invests £200m yearly. It is part of Octopus Investments, an investment company investing in the people, ideas and industries that will change the world. Hear from Octopus Ventures experts at www.octopusventures.com
ABOUT REMOFIRST
Remofirst is a global HR tech platform that helps businesses easily and affordably employ talent worldwide. Remofirst is focused on enabling “freedom of work,” empowering companies to access and compliantly hire talent anywhere in the world. Founded in 2021 by entrepreneurs from Kazakhstan and Ukraine (both Forbes 30 Under 30 recipients for 2023), Remofirst has thousands of customers worldwide, including Zocdoc, World Health Organization, University of Cambridge and Mastercard. For more information visit us at www.remofirst.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
