Deel Acquires African-Based Payroll Company PaySpace

Global HR company Deel has announced the acquisition of African-based payroll and HR solution provider, PaySpace,  for an undisclosed amount. This marks one of Deel’s largest acquisitions to date.

PaySpace brings over 20 years of experience in payroll technology, servicing clients in 44 countries across Europe, Latam (Latin America), the Middle East, and Africa. With a client base of over 14,000, including major names like Heineken, Coca-Cola Beverages, and Puma Sports SA, PaySpace’s expertise and proprietary technology offers unmatched scale and reach.

This acquisition positions Deel as the first global payroll and Employer of Record (EOR) with a full-stack payroll engine localized in 50 countries. This integrated offering allows Deel to serve as a single system of record for HR organizations worldwide, providing clients with a simplified interface to manage their global teams. This translates into greater efficiency and control for companies, faster payroll cycles, localized compliance insights, and the ability to make payroll changes at any time.

The news follows Deel’s acquisition of leading APAC payroll provider PayGroup. Deel now owns the full HR stack- entities, local teams (legal, HR, payroll), and local payroll engines – across six continents. Its four-year ambition is to serve 100 countries with native payroll engines.

“Global payroll is hard to do and critical to get right,” said Deel co-founder and CEO Alex Bouaziz. “As a company, you want assurances you can pay your teams on time, compliantly, anywhere in the world. PaySpace’s single-platform expertise and broad coverage, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, combined with PayGroup’s presence in APAC, will give Deel customers the reach they need to grow globally. Our long-term vision is to be the most comprehensive payroll system in the world.”

PaySpace’s unique cloud-native framework is built as a single engine, allowing for easy addition of more countries through localization. Unlike typical localization projects that take years to complete, PaySpace’s innovative technology enables much faster localization compared to other payroll providers.

Clyde van Wyk, PaySpace Director explained, “Like PaySpace, Deel strives to evolve its offering through disruption. We set out to modernize the payroll industry, which was burdened by manual processes and stringent legislative and compliance requirements, much like Deel revolutionized global hiring. This acquisition brings together leading employment services and payroll technology expertise, delivering a unique and powerful customer offering with unrivaled automation, flexibility and scalability.”

Additionally, Deel announced surpassing $500 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) organically, growing to 3,000 team members across 100 countries in less than five years. Moreover, Deel has achieved EBITDA(Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) positivity and consistent cash generation for the past year and a half.

Since its inception, Deel has transformed into a comprehensive HR and payroll solution for global teams, owning over 150 entities worldwide and managing in-house payroll teams in over 70 countries. Beyond payroll, Deel offers Employer of Record services, contractor management, immigration support, HRIS solutions, and performance management services globally.