Cercli, Y Combinator-Backedโ HR Tech Startup, Secures $12Mโ Series Aโค to Fuel AI-Powered โคExpansion in MENA
Dubai, UAE – โฃOctober 26, 2023 โฃ – Cercli, a rapidly growing โHR technology company building an โฃAI-native platformโฃ for the Middle Eastโ and North Africa (MENA) region, today announced it has closed โan oversubscribed $12 million Series A funding round.The investment, led by Picus โฃCapital with participation โfrom Knollwoodโค Investment Advisory, and existing investors Y Combinator, Aforeโ Capital, andโ COTU Ventures, will be used to accelerate product development and โexpand market share in the burgeoning $5.8 billion MENA HR softwareโข market.
Founded two years ago, Cercli aims to โขconsolidate โfragmentedโ HR processes forโ businesses โoperating in MENA, a region where companies often rely on a patchworkโค of point solutions for functions like payroll, expense management, and recruitment. The company’s platform differentiates itself by being built from the ground up โฃwith artificial intelligenceโ at its core,โ rather than โขsimply integrating AI as an add-on.
“The legacy systems of the lastโข 20 years-your SAPs, Oracles, Workdays-they were built for โขon-prem and the cloud. Now we’re entering โฃan AI-nativeโข world,” โคsaid Cercli founder Azmi in an interview with TechCrunch. “We didn’t want to just integrate AI;โ we wanted โขto rethinkโค the whole stack for howโฃ people and agents work โคtogether.”
Cercli has โขalready rebuilt itsโ payroll engine โขto beโ multi-country and agent-compatible,enabling efficient scaling across diverse global jurisdictions. The companyโ has also โapplied AI โฃto itsโ recruitment module, โoffering features that surface candidateโค lists, source from internal datasets, and assess hiringโ fit. notably, Cercli utilizesโ its own AI-powered treasury and reconciliation agents โto manage its internal finances and accounting, โขcontributing to a 21% โmonth-to-month revenue growth rate,โ according to โAzmi.
The company’s speed of implementation is another key advantage.โค Cercli claims to onboardโ customers in two to โthree days, โa meaningful โreduction โcompared to theโค months-long process frequentlyโ enoughโฃ associated with legacy systems. Thisโ rapid onboarding has attracted a diverse client โbase, โฃincluding Vision bank, the โGlobal Climate Finance Centre, Huspy, Lean Technologies, and Ziina.
This marks Picus Capital’s first investment in a MENA-based company.”We’ve seen this โฃbusiness model succeedโ globally within our โขportfolio, and we are excited to back Cercli โas theyโ continue to grow market shareโ through new customers โฃand product launches,”โค saidโค Robin Godenrath, founding partner at Picus Capital. โค Picus capital’s portfolio includes other prominent HRโฃ companies like Personio, Multiplier, โฃDeel, Maki, and JetHR.
Cercli isโค participating in theโ HR Tech โขMarketplace event, taking place October 27-29, 2025.
