In a area lengthy outlined by fragmented enterprise programs, outdated compliance instruments, and HR software program that not often talks to finance, Cercli is constructing a unified various for MENA companies with AI at its core.
The Dubai-based startup, based by ex-Careem operators Akeed Azmi and David Reche, has introduced an oversubscribed $12 million Sequence A spherical led by European VC Picus Capital.
Cercli as we speak seems to be barely totally different from the corporate that raised a $4 million seed spherical final 12 months. It’s rebuilding a Rippling-like stack for the MENA area, however making it AI-native from the bottom up.
Over the previous 12 months, that wager has paid off. The corporate says it has scaled income greater than 10x and now processes over $100 million in payroll yearly for a number of companies throughout 50 nations.
However in a crowded HR-tech market—the place dozens of startups resembling Deel and Distant, alongside incumbents like SAP and Oracle, already promise all the things from cross-border funds to payroll — why does the market want one other HR tech participant? CEO Azmi hopes its AI-first rebuild often is the edge that units it aside.
Azmi began Cercli to assist enterprises with fundamental individuals operations, a problem he and Reche seen at their earlier employers, Careem and Kitopi, two of MENA’s best-known unicorns.
With payroll unfold throughout a number of programs and compliance various by area, the primary model of Cercli centered on a platform that consolidated human sources administration, payroll, and compliance for MENA-based firms working globally.
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However Azmi says it envisioned an even bigger alternative if it baked in AI. So, over the previous three months, Azmi says the corporate has rewritten its whole payroll engine to be multi-country and agent-compatible, enabling it to scale extra effectively throughout international jurisdictions.
“The legacy programs of the final 20 years—your SAPs, Oracles, Workdays—they had been constructed for on-prem and the cloud. Now we’re coming into an AI-native world,” Azmi mentioned in an interview with Trendster. “We didn’t wish to simply combine AI; we needed to rethink the entire stack for the way individuals and brokers work collectively.”
It’s additionally performed the identical to its recruitment module. Cercli now gives agent-driven options that may floor candidate lists, supply from inside datasets, and run background logic on hiring match.
It’s personal inside operations run on AI, as the corporate makes use of custom-built treasury and reconciliation brokers to handle its personal funds and accounting. That’s how the 14-person staff closed its Sequence Some time sustaining a 21% month-to-month income development charge, based on Azmi.
Past AI, the founder believes Cercli’s different energy lies in consolidation. Though loads of multi-module HR opponents exist — together with Deel, Rippling, BambooHR — MENA firms are sometimes stitching their again workplace collectively from level options. An organization would possibly use totally different merchandise for expense administration, payroll or recruiting.
“Clients are asking for all the things in a single place, and being AI-native permits us to construct that unified expertise much more shortly,” Azmi defined.
Azmi mentioned Cercli’s AI-native structure lets it onboard clients shortly, as effectively. Setup can happen in two to 3 days, in comparison with a number of months typical with legacy programs, he claims. This has helped the two-year-old HR-tech startup win purchasers from startups to multinationals, together with Imaginative and prescient Financial institution, the International Local weather Finance Centre, Huspy, Lean Applied sciences, and Ziina.
Cercli can also be the primary MENA funding for Picus Capital. This agency has backed different international HR firms like Personio, Multiplier, Deel, Maki, and JetHR.
Different traders who participated on this Sequence A spherical embody Knollwood Funding Advisory in addition to present traders Y Combinator, Afore Capital, and COTU Ventures.
As a part of the funding, the corporate plans to construct new AI-native merchandise and work on gaining extra market share within the $5.8 billion HR software program alternative in MENA.
“We’ve seen this enterprise mannequin succeed globally inside our portfolio, and we’re excited to again Cercli as they proceed to develop market share by way of new clients and product launches,” mentioned Robin Godenrath, founding associate at Picus Capital.
