Cercli Secures $12M Series A to Revolutionize MENA HR Tech with AI-Native Platform
A new unified platform for human resources management is emerging in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Cercli, a Dubai-based startup, has announced the successful closing of an oversubscribed $12 million Series A funding round led by European venture capital firm Picus Capital.
For years, businesses in the MENA region have struggled with fragmented enterprise systems, outdated compliance tools, and a lack of integration between core functions like HR and finance. Cercli aims to address these challenges by offering an AI-native alternative, consolidating people operations, payroll, and compliance into a single platform.
Founded by former Careem executives Akeed Azmi and David Reche, Cercli has experienced rapid growth since raising a $4 million seed round last year. The company reports a more than 10x increase in revenue and now processes over $100 million in annual payroll for businesses operating across 50 countries.
In a competitive HR-tech landscape populated by established players like SAP and Oracle, as well as rapidly growing startups such as Deel and Remote, Cercli believes its commitment to building an AI-first platform will be a key differentiator. “The legacy systems of the last 20 years—your SAPs, Oracles, Workdays—they were built for on-prem and the cloud. Now we’re entering an AI-native world,” a company representative stated in a recent interview. “We didn’t want to just integrate AI; we wanted to rethink the whole stack for how people and agents work together.”
The initial iteration of Cercli focused on consolidating HR functions for MENA-based companies with global operations, a need Azmi and Reche identified during their time at unicorns Careem and Kitopi. However, the founders quickly recognized the potential to leverage artificial intelligence to create a more powerful and scalable solution. Over the past three months, Cercli completely rebuilt its payroll engine to be multi-country and agent-compatible, streamlining operations across diverse jurisdictions.
This AI-driven approach extends to Cercli’s recruitment module, which now features agent-driven tools for candidate sourcing, internal dataset analysis, and hiring fit assessment. The company is even utilizing custom-built AI agents for internal treasury and reconciliation processes, contributing to its impressive 21% month-to-month revenue growth rate while operating with a lean team of 14.
Beyond its technological innovation, Cercli’s value proposition lies in its consolidation of services. While numerous multi-module HR competitors exist, many MENA companies rely on a patchwork of point solutions for tasks like expense management, payroll, and recruiting. “Customers are asking for everything in one place, and being AI-native allows us to build that unified experience far more quickly,” Azmi explained.
The company claims its AI-native architecture significantly reduces onboarding time, with setup taking just two to three days compared to the months often required by legacy systems. This speed and efficiency have attracted a diverse client base, including Vision Bank, the Global Climate Finance Centre, Huspy, Lean Technologies, and Ziina.
This investment marks Picus Capital’s first foray into the MENA region, signaling confidence in the market’s potential. The firm has previously backed successful global HR companies like Personio, Multiplier, Deel, Maki, and JetHR. Additional investors in the Series A round include Knollwood Investment Advisory, Y Combinator, Afore Capital, and COTU Ventures.
Cercli plans to use the new funding to develop additional AI-native products and expand its market share within the $5.8 billion HR software opportunity in MENA. “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,” said Robin Godenrath, founding partner at Picus Capital.
