Y Combinator-backed Localyze raises $12m to grow relocation platform

Hiring from anywhere is an emerging trend.

This is primarily because the pandemic, and the success of remote working, has made companies realize they are no longer constrained by hiring those who are local to their offices.

Instead, they can now tap into a larger, global talent pool, but to do this compliantly and seamlessly, they are turning to HR tech tools.

This, in turn, explains why these global hiring tools are attracting significant funding. For example, just last week, Ireland-headquartered Boundless closed a €2.5 million seed round. This followed a $50 million raise for Oyster and a $156 million Series C for Deel.

Joining them is German global hiring startup Localyze, which has just closed a $12 million Series A round led by European-focused Blossom Capital.

Also participating in the round were existing investors like Frontline Ventures, as well as new angel investors, including ex-Farfetch Andrew Robb, former Workday CTO David Clarke and co-founder and CEO of Personio Hanno Renner.

Importantly, Localyze is more than a hiring from anywhere platform, it also helps companies and individuals manage their relocation to a new country.

Localyze was born out of the pain of relocation that the three female founders – CEO Hanna Asmussen, COO Lisa Dahlke, and CTO Franzi Löw – had personally experienced in previous jobs. In particular, the experience of COO Dahlke when she relocated more than 300 people in a previous HR role.

As a result, they founded Localyze in Hamburg in 2018 and within six months were part of the Y Combinator accelerator program in San Francisco, which has previously supported the likes of AirBnb, Dropbox, Gusto and Stripe.

Localyze’s SaaS platform aims to streamline all the immigration admin linked with relocating to a new country. It also helps them to find somewhere new to live, as well as sort out their banking, in their new home.

It provides end-to-end digital support, which gives employees and companies full visibility over the relocation process. However, this is complemented by Localyze’s human case workers who provide support, answer any questions and troubleshoot any problems.

CEO Asmussen told TechCrunch: “The core of our technology is a pipeline system that maps out all possibilities of how the employee can enter a country and matches the pipeline with the characteristics of that employee (e.g. nationality, family status or education).

“This guarantees that the employee gets all the relevant information throughout his/her process and that our case managers can focus on more individual questions.

“On the HR side our software helps to manage and track the process of all employees with the ease of mind that we notify them about changes or required actions,” continues Asmussen.

“The HR manager can simply add a case, or transfer information over through our integration with their HRIS and we take it from there.”

Localyze plans to use the funding to expand its relocation platform to new regions and deepen its operations in the countries it already operates in.

Asmussen added: “With the funding, we want to accelerate our expansion in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal & Spain, besides our core market Germany.

“We’ve been operating in these markets for a while and now look at strengthening our go to market across Europe.”

The startup claims to have relocated more than 120 customers to 100 countries in the past three years. It hopes to double its customer base, as well as its 25 person team, over the next year.

Talking about the investment, Blossom Capital founder Ophelia Brown said: “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.

“Instead of being bogged down by the costly and lengthy relocation processes, enterprises can concentrate on the job at hand and their employees can feel confident and secure that their relocation – often one of the biggest decisions they’ll have to make in their career – is dealt with efficiently and without a hitch.”