REMOTE.COM

Job van der Voort was VP of Product at GitLab, one of the world’s largest fully remote companies. Managing employees across 65 countries showed him every broken piece of the international employment puzzle — different contracts, tax systems, benefits requirements, and compliance rules.

He co-founded Remote with Marcelo Lebre in 2019, before COVID made remote work mainstream. Their thesis was that companies shouldn’t need a legal entity in every country to hire the best people there.

When the pandemic hit months after launch, demand exploded.

Remote offers Employer of Record (EOR) services, contractor management, and global payroll. Companies pay a per-employee monthly fee to have Remote legally employ their international team members.

Remote owns legal entities in 75+ countries — the hard, expensive part that startups and mid-size companies can’t replicate.

They differentiate by owning their local entities rather than using third-party partners. This gives them more control over the employee experience and compliance quality.

Employer of Record in 75+ countries with owned entities. Global payroll for companies that already have their own entities but need payroll processing.

Contractor management for freelancers and independent contractors worldwide. HR management tools including onboarding, time-off tracking, and expense management.

Remote grew through a combination of content marketing (SEO around international hiring topics), product-led growth (free tools and resources that attracted HR teams), and aggressive geographic expansion. They also open-sourced their employee handbook and company policies, building trust with the remote work community.

Same as Oyster — brutal competition from Deel, Papaya Global, Oyster, and others. Deel in particular has been growing faster and spending more aggressively.

The race to cover more countries and offer more features is expensive. Profitability remains a question for the entire EOR category.

SoftBank led the $300 million Series C. Earlier rounds were led by Accel, Sequoia, and Index Ventures.

Total funding of $496 million makes Remote one of the best-funded companies in the HR tech space.