In HR Software Battle, Rippling Makes Up Ground Against Deel—At a Cost

Rippling, a human-resources software startup valued at more than $11 billion, was a relative latecomer to the business of helping companies hire staff overseas. Now its expansion into dozens of countries, including the U.K. and Ireland, is starting to pay off.

The eight-year-old startup’s annual recurring revenue roughly doubled to more than $350 million by the end of 2023 compared with a year earlier, according to two people who spoke to the company and a third told about its finances. The figure implies it is generating about $30 million a month in subscription revenue. The overseas expansion and bundling of products like tech-device management and performance review software with its payroll services are fueling the rapid growth, they said.