Deel Inc., a US-based private global payroll and compliance firm, completed its AUD 121 million (USD 80.2 million) acquisition of Australia-based payroll and HCM (human capital management) company PayGroup Limited.

PayGroup is now part of Deel and has been delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange.

The sale was first announced in June 2022.

PayGroup has a strong presence in countries like Australia, New Zealand, India, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, processing roughly AUD 12 billion (USD 7.9 billion) in payroll per year for over 3,000 businesses. The company has been steadily growing this year, targeting an annual recurring revenue of AUD 39 million (USD 25.8 million), and is EBITDA positive.

The firm’s HCM and in-house payroll software provide solutions for enterprise clients spanning many industries, from staffing and workforce management companies, to retail and franchise clients like Nike and Subway.

“Acquiring PayGroup means Deel has an even more powerful multichannel strategy for implementing its platform and technology - both directly and indirectly - to customers and partners,” Deel stated.

The firms expect to announce a new merged version of their software solution in H1 2023, which will combine PayGroup’s 15+ years of expertise delivering HR and payroll software solutions with Deel’s simple, customer-centric platform. All of PayGroup’s team members have joined Deel.

Deel co-founder and CFO Philippe Bouaziz said, “Together, we are building the first truly global solution in the payroll and HCM industry, giving businesses around the world the ability to hire, pay, and manage the best talent, no matter where they’re located. The completion of the acquisition scales our payroll and HCM expertise, expands our customer base in the region, and reinforces our leadership in the global payroll space.”

The acquirer, Deel, was founded in 2019 and has a presence in more than 150 countries. It aims to enable firms to hire remote workers and contractors. It raised a USD 425 million funding round in October 2021 at a company valuation of USD 5.5 billion.

Deel was acknowledged as the most highly-valued ‘decacorn’ in SIA’s recent research report on Unicorns in the Workforce Solutions Ecosystem, available to members.