Image credit: Localyze
Hamburg-based Localyze is an all-in-one software that manages international teams, including relocation of international hires, temporarily transferring employees & contracts remotely.
Today, the company has announced a capital raise of $12M (approx €10.15M) in its early-stage funding round. The funding follows the company’s recent record of 300 per cent revenue growth in Q1 2021 and its participation in the Y Combinator Summer accelerator programme in 2019.
Recently, the winners of the 2021 Future Hamburg Award were announced.
Investors in this round
The current round was led by Blossom Capital. In addition, existing investor Frontline Ventures also participated in this fundraise.
Ophelia Brown from Blossom Capital says, “Access to the very best talent is a huge consideration for businesses of all sizes, but for high-growth enterprises, it’s absolutely crucial that nothing gets in the way of being able to tap into the skills and abilities of staff anywhere in Europe. Localyze removes all of these barriers.”
Besides, the company also saw investment from a number of angel investors, including Andrew Robb (ex-Farfetch), Des Traynor (co-founder at Intercom), Hanno Renner (co-founder at Personio), David Clarke (CTO at Workday), and Michael Wax (CEO of Forto).
What does Localyze offer?
Founded in 2018 by Hanna Asmussen, Lisa Dahlke, and Franzi Low, the trio experienced first-hand difficulties and pain-points involved with relocating, having lived and worked across a combined total of 15 countries.
In 2019, after going through Y Combinator and raising investment from Frontline Ventures, Localyze’s all-in-one SaaS platform now simplifies the relocation process for HR leaders at high-growth tech companies across Europe. Besides migration process, the company also offers support with visa applications, work and residence permits, and registration to housing and banking in the destination country.
Some of Localyze’s clients include Free Now, Trade Republic, Babbel, Thoughtworks, Tier Mobility, DeepL, Forto, and Personio. These organisations have hundreds of employees from different countries that need to manage their paperwork between embassies, labour agencies, foreigners’ offices and the local town halls.
Besides employee relocation, Localyze also helps companies to operate across borders. It supports employers with opening new locations, business trips, temporary mobility, and remote employment assessments. All while allowing HR departments to monitor each step and ensure compliance.
What has Localyze been upto?
Currently, the company claims to have helped more than 2,000 people from over 100 countries relocate internationally. And with the world slowly opening back up after the pandemic, Localyze is witnessing employer demand accelerating for its services, growing on average at more than 30 per cent month-on-month.
And to achieve these demands, Localyze will utilise the current funds to expand into new regions – starting with the major hubs for international talent, in Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the UK.
To help European companies fulfil their entrepreneurial mission, the company has co-created alongside EU parliamentarian Damian Boeselager, the Open Employers Pledge, to attract, retain, and relocate global talent in Europe’s labour market.
Hanna Asmussen, co-founder & CEO of Localyze says, “Having gone through the challenges of relocation as individuals, we built our solution to help simplify the process for employers relocating talent to Europe. Since Covid, we’ve built this out to further support these employers with managing the new working paradigms popping up globally. Our customers’ employees are taking WFH (Work From Home) beyond international borders, and we plan to be the go-to solution that allows companies to compliantly operate a decentralised, international setup that can win them the best talent.”
Funds for expansion
Localyze will use the capital to open new markets and accelerate product development and executive recruitment across engineering, product design and marketing to meet the growing demand for digital solutions.
Co-founder Asmussen adds, “We want to be the go-to company for global mobility, and a broader geographic coverage is the biggest lever for that.”
