Paismo is a people-first, AI-powered HR and payroll platform built for small and mid-sized businesses in emerging markets. Founded in 2022 by University of Pennsylvania alumni Rebecka Zavaleta and Usama Mahmud, it combines core HR, time and attendance, leave, performance management and automated payroll into one cloud system - with localized features designed from the ground up for markets that legacy HR software has long ignored. Backed by a $1.5M seed haul led by Indus Valley Capital, Paismo now spans the US, UAE, Pakistan, Mexico and Ethiopia, and has layered on Employer of Record services and a one-click payroll partnership with easypaisa.
Plane (formerly Pilot) is a San Francisco-based global payroll, HR, and compliance platform that lets fast-growing companies pay U.S. employees, international employees, and contractors from a single system. Founded in 2017 out of Y Combinator's Winter 2017 batch, Plane runs domestic payroll, hires people abroad through employer-of-record services, and pays contractors in 240+ countries and 130+ currencies - pitching itself as the easiest-to-set-up multi-country payroll tool, with an unusual approach of charging foreign-exchange fees at cost rather than marking them up.
Bolto is an AI-native, all-in-one platform that helps fast-growing companies hire, pay, and manage software talent across borders. It pairs expert local recruiters with AI screening to deliver candidate shortlists in days, then handles payroll, onboarding, and compliance in 150+ countries - replacing the patchwork of recruiters, EORs, and payroll tools companies usually stitch together.
Atlas HXM is a Chicago-based Human Experience Management platform and the original direct Employer of Record (EOR), letting companies hire, pay, and support talent in 160+ countries without setting up local entities. By owning and operating its own legal entities worldwide, Atlas handles payroll, benefits, compliance, and immigration through a single technology platform, onboarding international employees in as little as two weeks.
Jim McCoy is the CEO of Atlas HXM, the company that pioneered the direct Employer of Record model for hiring across 160-plus countries. He took the top job in December 2023 after 14 years at ManpowerGroup, where he scaled the world's largest recruitment process outsourcing business into 56 countries and managed a quarter-million placements a year. He builds for scale while obsessing over the local user experience, borrows ideas from B2C playbooks for a B2B world, and frames the work as democratizing access to economic opportunity.
Deel is a global HR and payroll platform that lets companies hire, pay, and manage workers in 150+ countries, handling contracts, compliance, taxes, benefits, and IT - all in one place.
Alex Bouaziz is the co-founder and CEO of Deel, the $17.3 billion global HR and payroll platform that allows companies to hire anyone, anywhere. Born in Paris in 1993 and raised between France and Israel, Bouaziz studied civil engineering at Technion and MIT before pivoting to entrepreneurship. He co-founded Deel in 2019 with MIT classmate Shuo Wang after observing glaring pay inequities for international talent and experiencing firsthand the pain of paying overseas workers. Under his leadership, Deel surpassed $1 billion ARR in Q1 2025, raised $300 million in Series E funding at a $17.3 billion valuation in October 2025, and became one of the fastest-growing HR technology companies in history.
Joyce Salas is a Founder at Deel, the San Francisco-based global HR and payroll platform that has redefined how companies hire, pay, and manage international teams. Based in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, she brings a finance and accounting lens to one of the fastest-growing HR tech companies in the world - a company that has raised over $1.27 billion in funding, crossed $1 billion in annual revenue, and employs more than 8,400 people serving businesses in 150+ countries.
RemoFirst is an Employer of Record platform that lets companies hire, pay, and manage full-time employees and contractors in 185+ countries without setting up local entities. Founded in 2021 in San Francisco, it competes with Deel and Rippling by undercutting them on price - starting at $199 per employee per month - and handling payroll, taxes, benefits, equipment, and visas on its customers' behalf.