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2 min read . Updated: 24 Jan 2022, 08:49 PM IST Company helps businesses outsource tasks associated with hiring people abroad, and has seen massive growth due to the Covid-19 pandemic
Globalization Partners, a software provider that helps businesses streamline the process of hiring employees internationally, has landed new backing from Vista Equity Partners that values the company at $4.2 billion.
Boston-based Globalization Partners helps businesses outsource tasks associated with hiring people abroad, including tax, legal, accounting and administrative duties, through artificial intelligence-powered software. The company said it experienced a boom in business due partly to the movement of global workforces throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
Founded in 2012, Globalization Partners said its customer base—which includes cryptocurrency news provider CoinDesk, golf company TaylorMade Golf Co. and financial technology business Chime—has grown by almost 70% in the last year.
Bob Cahill, the company’s president, said new customer acquisition more than doubled year on year in 2021, including a 44% increase from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. Globalization Partners generates some $1 billion in annual recurring revenue.
Vista invested in the employment software business through a $200 million convertible preferred equity commitment from its Vista Credit Partners unit, according to a spokesperson for the firm. The credit unit financed the transaction through several different investment vehicles, the person said.
Vista itself was a Globalization Partners customer and used the software to support the firm and several portfolio companies before investing in the business, according to Globalization Partners founder and Chief Executive Nicole Sahin.
Globalization Partners’ value has seen massive growth in the past two years: The company received a $150 million equity investment in 2020 that valued it at more than $500 million, WSJ Pro Private Equity previously reported. That investment included capital from European buyout firm TDR Capital and U.S. firms Wincove Private Holdings and Sands Capital Management.
The trend toward the globalization of the workforce was popular before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold in 2020, but has accelerated because of the dispersal of talent around the globe and a growing willingness among some employers to allow employees to work remotely.
Although the percentage of Americans working remotely declined from the peak of the pandemic in May 2020, as of August 2021, roughly 20 million people, or around 13.4% of employed Americans, still worked remotely, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It’s almost like Covid was a booster shot for this industry," said Ms. Sahin. She noted that by the end of last year, many companies were realizing the economy was bouncing back and that with the digital economy, it doesn’t matter where employees are based. “Before, everyone wanted to hire people within 50 miles of headquarters."
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