The lockdown that ensued due to the Covid 19 pandemic disrupted livelihoods, and adversely affected trade, businesses and the economy of nations across the globe. This resulted in a change in our social structure, unprecedented. Before the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, not many businesses relied on the internet to thrive. Most business dealings were carried out offline with little or no dependency on the virtual environment that the internet provided.

However, the story has changed; the Covid-19 pandemic has led to an inevitable surge in the use of digital technologies due to the social distancing guidelines and global lockdowns. People and organizations all over the world have had to adjust to new ways of work and life.
An increase in digitalization is leading firms and educational institutions to shift to work-from-home (WFH) or remotely.

Remofirst
Remofirst is one of the many startups that began just after the ease of the Covid 19 lockdown. Started in 2021 by Nurasyl Serik and Volodymyr Fedoriv to open up that option to more businesses with a SaaS offering comprehensive, cost-efficient and faster than what currently exists.

Remofirst differentiates itself from outsourcing, saying that it helps companies to hire people in more than 150 countries without having to set up their entities. By serving as an Employer of Record, Remofirst operates as an entity that hires workers on behalf of businesses and handles “everything that has to do with hiring a person in a company,” said Serik. This includes employment, managing payroll, taxes, compliance and providing work equipment as well as helping businesses come up with competitive compensation plans and offering health and vision insurance.

An employee is made to sign an employment contract with Remofirst local entity before the actual hire. Remofirst offers contractor solutions, which make up about 90% of the startup’s business.

According to Serik, Remofirst charges businesses a monthly fee beginning from $199 and above based on the number of employees and the country. Every country has a different cost of operation.

“It costs anywhere from $20,000 to $80,00 to set up an entity, and then companies still need to hire accountants, lawyers and HR professionals to maintain the relationships. “You need to have x amount of money in a particular country, and comply with all the local rules and regulations. That complexity adds to the time it takes, Serik added”

In January of 2021, the pair raised a pre-seed round of $275,000 from angel investors and then oversaw the growth of the company to more than seven figures in revenue while becoming cash-flow positive — with no customer churn — in less than 12 months of operation.

“More and more companies are going remote and some can’t afford it,” Serik said. “We believe we are increasing TAM by allowing more companies to go remote.”

Remofirst began the process of raising its seed round of funding late last year. The process to raise that seed round brought in $14.1 million in the capital in a round that closed in February. Mouro Capital and QED Investors co-led the financing, which included participation from Counterpart Ventures.