"In a region long defined by fragmented enterprise systems, outdated compliance tools, and HR software that rarely talks to finance, Cercli is building a unified alternative for MENA businesses with AI at its core. The Dubai-based startup, founded by ex-Careem operators Akeed Azmi and David Reche, has announced an oversubscribed $12 million Series A round led by European VC Picus Capital."
"Cercli today looks slightly different from the company that raised a $4 million seed round last year. It is rebuilding a Rippling-like stack for the MENA region, but making it AI-native from the ground up. Over the past year, that bet has paid off. The company says it has scaled revenue more than 10x and now processes over $100 million in payroll annually for multiple businesses across 50 countries."
"But Azmi says it envisioned a bigger opportunity if it baked in AI. So, over the past three months, Azmi says the company has rewritten its entire payroll engine to be multi-country and agent-compatible, enabling it to scale more efficiently across global jurisdictions. "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," Azmi said in an interview with Te"
Cercli builds a unified HR, payroll, and compliance platform tailored to MENA enterprises with AI at its core. The Dubai-based startup, founded by former Careem operators Akeed Azmi and David Reche, raised an oversubscribed $12 million Series A led by Picus Capital. Cercli rebuilt its stack to be AI-native, rewriting its payroll engine to be multi-country and agent-compatible. The company reports revenue growth of more than 10x and processes over $100 million in payroll annually across 50 countries. Cercli aims to differentiate from incumbents and competitors through an AI-first architecture to scale efficiently across global jurisdictions.
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