Cercli Raises $12M Series A to Expand AI HR Platform Across MENA and Beyond

Cercli, a Dubai-based startup founded by former Careem operators Akeed Azmi and David Reche, has raised an oversubscribed $12 million Series A funding round led by European venture capital firm Picus Capital, marking Picus's first investment in the MENA region. The company provides an AI-native, unified HR platform tailored for the complex payroll, compliance, and people operations needs of enterprises operating across multiple countries, currencies, and labor codes in MENA, Europe, and North America. Cercli has achieved over 10x revenue growth in the past year, processing more than $100 million in payroll annually for businesses across 50 countries, by rebuilding its payroll engine to be multi-country and agent-compatible, and enhancing recruitment with AI-driven candidate sourcing. The platform automates compliance checks, anomaly detection, and treasury functions, distinguishing itself in a crowded HR tech market dominated by global players like Deel, Remote, SAP, and Oracle. The startup aims to streamline fragmented enterprise systems and outdated compliance tools, leveraging AI to create a seamless, scalable workforce management solution for the AI-native era. This funding will accelerate Cercli's product development, AI innovation, and global expansion, positioning it as a leading HR SaaS player in one of the world's fastest-growing technology markets.