On September 15, Atlas secured a strategic equity investment of up to $200m in partnership with Sixth Street Growth.

Atlas specializes in direct employer of record (EOR) solutions and enabling technology, contractor pay, consulting services, HR service delivery, and global mobility & visa offerings. The company is focused on supporting clients’ international expansion strategies in compliance with employment rules and regulations through its entities in ~165 countries. It rebranded from Elements Global Services to Atlas in June 2022, and its rebranding efforts reflect the flexibility, agility, and enabling technology required to meet client and worker UX expectations, talent needs, and data requirements intensified by recent global events.

As a result of this investment, Atlas will be able to enhance its technology platform to support localization and provide additional self-service functionality and automation features. The launch of the Atlas Human Experience Management (HXM) platform was coordinated with the organization’s rebranding efforts in June.

The funding also supports broader in-region customer support, including hiring additional native language staff to deliver in-country and in-time zone support to its clients and worksite employees. Atlas continues to hire in-country staff throughout all levels of its organization, including senior leadership. The expanded regional presence balances direct client and worksite employee support and technology.

The company maintains an aggressive inorganic growth strategy to broaden near-term service portfolio offerings, technology advances, and the addition of new in-country legal entities.

NelsonHall views this investment as a strategic enabler to support Atlas’ organic and inorganic growth strategies. It anticipates the expansion of Atlas’ portfolio through partnerships or the acquisition of companies delivering complementary services and technologies. These relationships will enable cross-selling opportunities and the development of targeted business development strategies. The company continues to expand its services and technology offerings to support all phases of the HR lifecycle, attracting prospective clients seeking a single vendor to manage comprehensive outsourcing or targeted out-tasking of its HR services.

Several other EOR vendors have secured equity funding to extend their capabilities, including:

• Omnipresent raised ~$138m over three funding rounds to support legal entity creation in ~80 markets and the development of its OmniPlatform technology stack
• Remote raised ~$496m over four funding rounds to support legal entity creation in ~65 markets and enrich its Remote technology stack, including the release of its contractor management, relocation, and API integration services and modules
• Velocity Global raised ~$500m to support multiple company acquisitions, including iWorkGlobal and Shield GEO, broaden its services portfolio, and expand its Global Work Platform functionality to support contractor payments.

The formalization of ‘work from anywhere’ policies and the continued impact of ‘the great resignation’ have contributed to a high level of global EOR market activity and client interest. To support global and service portfolio expansion, M&A transactions, and enabling technology enhancements, NelsonHall expects more strategic investment funding across the global EOR market in the year ahead.

Safeguard Global acquired Global Upside Corporation, a global expansion, technology, and services company based in San Jose, CA on January 25, 2022.

Global Upside specializes in EOR services, new entity incorporation, human resources, accounting, payroll, and tax & compliance solutions. The country footprint across both organizations is well aligned. This acquisition will add ~500 employees to the existing 1,100 Safeguard Global employees, to create a combined organization comprised of 1,600 employees. Global Upside has been rebranded as Safeguard Global.

Significant to this acquisition will be the ability for Safeguard Global to provide additional services to enrich its EOR offering, specifically adding front-end HR capabilities such as recruitment and in-country entity set-up expertise, to ensure clients are prepared for the future of work. Safeguard Global currently delivers onboarding, in-country compliance, HR technology, and centralized payroll services.

The acquisition of Global Upside positions Safeguard Global as one of the largest providers in terms of revenues in the EOR marketplace. NelsonHall estimates the combined EOR 2021 revenues for both organizations were $65m.

The acquisition of Global Upside supports the Safeguard Global ‘Work in Any Way’ workforce management vision, which considers where, when, and how people work to assure a people-centric, flexible, inclusive, and diverse organizational culture. The complementary service offerings provided by Global Upside will be valuable to organizations when they have determined that a market is suitable for a permanent in-country entity.

NelsonHall views this acquisition as a service expansion to support Safeguard Global’s end-to-end global growth journey. It anticipates synergies between the client portfolios to enable cross-selling opportunities. For example, in 2021, Safeguard Global had 72 EOR clients that opened new entities in ~100 countries. The clients leveraged their internal HR organizations to organize and complete the logistics of establishing these new entities. Moving forward, Safeguard Global will have the ability to provide these and additional direct services that will enable internal client resources to focus on strategic initiatives and core functional responsibilities.

Safeguard Global has a history of acquisitions, including GEDA in 2020, and WorkFor Group and AdminMe in 2019. The acquisition of Global Upside firmly cements the organization as a leader in the global EOR market.

Several other EOR vendors have made similar acquisitions to extend their capabilities, including:

• Velocity Global acquired iWorkGlobal in April 2021 and Shield GEO in July 2021
• TopSource Global Solutions and PEO Worldwide merged to form TopSource Worldwide in August 2021
• Deel acquired Roots, an HR software company, in January 2022.

The rapid increase in remote working combined with the impact of the ‘Great Resignation’ has contributed to a high level of Global EOR market activity and client interest. NelsonHall expects more acquisitions in the global EOR market in the year ahead to support rapid growth and capability expansions.