Dubai Startup Revolutionizes Regional HR Technology With AI-Native Approach
Cercli, a Dubai-based HR technology platform founded by former Careem executives, has successfully closed an oversubscribed $12 million Series A funding round. The investment was led by European venture capital firm Picus Capital, with participation from Knollwood Investment Advisory and existing investors including Y Combinator, Afore Capital, and COTU Ventures.
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The funding marks a significant milestone for the young company, which has experienced remarkable growth since its inception. According to company statements, Cercli has scaled revenue more than 10x over the past year and now processes over $100 million in payroll annually for businesses operating across 50 countries.
From Regional Challenge to Global Opportunity
Founded by Akeed Azmi and David Reche, both veterans of MENA’s technology ecosystem through their experiences at Careem and Kitopi, Cercli emerged from recognizing the operational inefficiencies plaguing regional businesses. The founders observed firsthand how fragmented enterprise systems, outdated compliance tools, and disconnected HR and finance software created significant operational hurdles for companies scaling across multiple jurisdictions.
“The legacy systems of the last 20 years were built for on-prem and the cloud. Now we’re entering an AI-native world,” CEO Akeed Azmi explained in statements about the company‘s strategic direction. “We didn’t want to just integrate AI; we wanted to rethink the whole stack for how people and agents work together.”, as our earlier report
AI-Native Architecture: The Competitive Edge
What distinguishes Cercli in the crowded HR technology market is its fundamental commitment to artificial intelligence. Unlike competitors who have bolted AI features onto existing platforms, Cercli has undertaken a complete rebuild of its infrastructure with AI at its core.
Over the past three months, the company has rewritten its entire payroll engine to be multi-country and agent-compatible, enabling more efficient scaling across global jurisdictions. This AI-native approach extends throughout their platform, including their recruitment module which now offers agent-driven features that can surface candidate lists, source from internal datasets, and run background logic on hiring fit.
The platform’s AI capabilities aren’t just customer-facing – Cercli operates its own internal functions using custom-built treasury and reconciliation agents to manage finances and accounting. This operational efficiency has allowed the 14-person team to maintain a impressive 21% month-to-month revenue growth rate while securing Series A funding.
Addressing MENA’s Unique Market Needs
While global HR tech players like Deel, Remote, SAP, and Oracle offer comprehensive solutions, Cercli positions itself as specifically tailored to address the unique challenges facing MENA businesses. The region’s complex regulatory environment, combined with the prevalence of companies operating across multiple countries with varying compliance requirements, creates distinct needs that Cercli aims to address.
“Customers are asking for everything in one place, and being AI-native allows us to build that unified experience far more quickly,” Azmi noted, highlighting the platform’s consolidation advantage. Many MENA companies currently stitch together their back office operations from multiple point solutions, using different products for expense management, payroll, and recruiting.
Rapid Implementation and Market Traction
One of Cercli’s significant competitive advantages lies in implementation speed. The company claims it can onboard customers within two to three days, compared to the several months typically required by legacy systems. This rapid deployment capability has helped the two-year-old startup attract an impressive client portfolio ranging from emerging startups to established multinationals.
Notable clients now using Cercli’s platform include Vision Bank, the Global Climate Finance Centre, Huspy, Lean Technologies, and Ziina – demonstrating the platform’s appeal across diverse industry sectors.
Strategic Expansion and Market Potential
The Series A funding will fuel Cercli’s ambitious expansion plans in the MENA region’s $5.8 billion HR software market. The company intends to develop new AI-native products while accelerating its market share growth through both customer acquisition and product innovation.
Robin Godenrath, founding partner at Picus Capital, expressed confidence in Cercli’s approach: “We’ve seen this business model succeed globally within our portfolio, and we are excited to back Cercli as they continue to grow market share through new customers and product launches.”
The investment represents Picus Capital’s first venture into the MENA region, adding Cercli to their portfolio of global HR technology companies that includes Personio, Multiplier, Deel, Maki, and JetHR.
As businesses throughout the Middle East and North Africa continue to digitize their operations, Cercli’s AI-first platform positions the company to capitalize on the growing demand for integrated, intelligent HR solutions designed specifically for the region’s unique business landscape.
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