Australian workforce management software maker Deputy has cracked the billion-dollar valuation milestone, with its first external investment in six years making it the first private technology “unicorn” company to emerge since the tech funding market soured in early 2022.
The new investment was made by US-based Express Employment Professionals, a global staffing and labour hire company. Deputy initially engaged Express as a potential customer, but the company liked its product so much it decided to buy a $37 million stake, at a valuation exceeding $1.1 billion.at $423 million. It means Deputy’s investors can revalue their stakes at the higher valuation, making it a win for local venture capital firms Square Peg and EVP, as well as US investors IVP and OpenView.
Twelve months later, Deputy brought in Ms Martincevic, the former chief commercial officer of US buy now, pay later start-up Affirm, to replace Mr Ahmed as CEO. Mr Ahmed joined the board of the 15-year-old company, alongside co-founder and chairman Mr Shelley.Deputy reported its first profit in the year ended June 30, 2023, recording a statutory profit of $8.5 million compared with a loss of $24.9 million the year earlier, while annual revenue topped $100 million.
Express Employment Professionals, which has more than 860 franchised locations across Australia, America, South Africa and New Zealand, will roll out Deputy’s technology across the organisation. Through the partnership, Deputy will add up to 500,000 new users, a 36 per cent increase in its current global user base.