Karen Serfaty and Gianina Rossi, both engineers from Argentina, have worked for US-based companies for the past 10 years, and the same issue kept coming up: how to manage taxes while being a contractor in another country.
Working with San Francisco-based Josefina Van Thienen, who had worked at Microsoft creating strategic partnerships with AI-focused tech companies, they looked deeper into the problem and found that taxes weren’t the only issue when companies wanted to recruit globally.
“When you work from Europe, Asia or Latin America, you usually get paid in US dollars, not in your local currency,” CEO Serfaty told TechCrunch. “Try going to your HR manager for help with sending the money to a bank account and the answer is usually ‘no.’
Thus began the trio Atlas, an employment benefits tool for global companies to manage their contractor benefits from one place. Through Atlas, companies can offer benefits such as tax management, health insurance and social benefits to their entire workforce, regardless of their location. There is also a market for benefits that can be tailored to the company or contractor.
They founded the company from Argentina in 2021. Latin America in general has become a hotbed of global remote talent, Serfaty said. The employee benefits market itself has seen a lot of change and growth, especially during the global pandemic, when there has been a rise in remote hiring.
Customers took notice. Atlas works with companies including Mercury, Firstbase, Deel and Payoneer.
“The goal was to get three customers in a month or leave the project, and we secured five,” Serfaty said. “These customers’ accounts grew 5x in one year with us.”
Since launching the platform in March 2023, the company has designed proprietary features, integrated hundreds of benefits, and expanded its presence to cover 26 countries in the Americas and Europe. During this time, the company has grown its revenue 2x and is approaching $1 million in annual recurring revenue.
Investors noticed too. Atlas is the latest company to raise some $2.75 million in seed expansion funding. Hi Ventures (formerly ALLVP) led the round and along with Oskar Hjertonsson, founder of Cornershop. In total, the company raised nearly $5 million with other backers, including Jason Calacanis and Pioneer, investing in the production cycle.
“We’re seeing a lot of traction from customers, including larger customers, with no churn, so we’re seeing a lot of stickiness,” Serfaty said. “The goal now is to grow our US-based companies with a global reach.”
