Deel hits $17.3B valuation after raising $300M from big-name VCs

It’s as entertaining as it’s made out to be To see the technology industry Decacorn deals and rippling on competing salaries cases against each other Over A corporate espionage scandalTop-level VCs are apparently not terribly afraid. Thursday deals announcement That it raised a $300 million Series E round led by A-list fintech VC firms Rebit Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from existing investors like Kotu Management and General Catalyst.

Deel said it has been profitable for three years and surpassed $1 billion in ARR, including one month — September — that hit $100 million in revenue. Deel’s business model focuses on providing services to companies worldwide, managing currency complexities and employment controls for remote international teams. It says it has now grown to 35,000+ customers with over 1.5 million employees in over 150 countries.

Those are the types of numbers that attract investment, pending litigation or not. (Ripling’s California lawsuit against Deal does not yet have a trial date, and is in the discovery phase, Court records.) In fact, Mickey Malka, the founder of Ribbit, and Ben Horowitz, the founder of a16z, gave the deal their full support at the announcement. In a prepared statement, Malka said Ribbit has long been a “fan” of the HR company, as it is “a brand company believes in,” and Horowitz said A16z is “blown away” by Deel’s work to build “the best HR platform” for companies worldwide.

For what it’s worth, the lawsuits haven’t slowed Ripling’s fundraising efforts either. In August, Rippling raised a $450 million Series G rounds at a $16.8 billion valuation.