While the pandemic may have shuttered travel, in many ways, the workplace has become more global. The shift to remote working and work from home has now allowed employees to work without consideration for borders and the location of their traditional offices. However, managing a remote workforce has its own complexities from a human resources standpoint. Omnipresent is the SaaS platform that enables companies to tap into a truly global workforce without having to worry about managing the local requirements. The platform focuses on making sure that all employee issues are appropriately handled, compliant with local requirements, whether legal, payroll, tax, or benefits-related. This type of localized service has traditionally reserved for large conglomerates with specialised, multinational teams. Omnipresent has turned this into an elegant software solution that presently addresses 150 countries.
London TechWatch caught up with Co-CEO and Cofounder Matthew Wilson to learn more about how the pandemic impacted the trajectory of the platform, the future of work, and the company’s most recent round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $17.8M since its founding in 2019.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We have closed a £11M Series A funding round only five months after our Seed round. The fundraise was led by an undisclosed investor with participation from existing investors Episode 1, Playfair Capital, and Truesight Ventures.
Tell us about your product or service.
Omnipresent is simplifying global employment. By acting as the local employer in every country, Omnipresent helps companies employ local teams worldwide at a fraction of the cost of doing the legwork themselves. With the use of our simple tech-enabled platform, companies can onboard employees compliantly in 150 countries, providing remote team members with local contracts, employment tax contributions, and local and international benefits such as health insurance, pensions, and equity options. Alongside our simple OmniPlatform clients also receive bespoke specialised support.
What inspired the start of Omnipresent?
As former business owners, Guenther and I understood firsthand the complexities of hiring talent internationally. We both knew there was space to really transform this field and remove the headache of international employment bureaucracy for business owners. When we met at Entrepreneur First, the world’s leading talent investor, this shared vision led us to found Omnipresent.
How is it different?
We support companies with their global employment through our tech-enabled employment platform and expert support service. Our strength and competitive advantage lies in our team, our tech-forward approach, and our global coverage. Behind the scenes, we have a team of experts with years of experience in international employment law, payroll, and benefits. This is complimented by our streamlined OmniPlatform where clients can manage all their employment needs for multiple employees in one place. Lastly, our coverage is truly global, we operate in over 150 countries and are still expanding.
What market are you targeting and how big is it?
Our target market is any company that wants to employ remote or international staff. At the moment most of our clients are companies without an international presence and that are expanding rapidly. As more companies are turning towards remote and flexible working models we anticipate that Omnipresent will appeal to companies of all sizes, across any sector. A recent survey we conducted in the UK revealed that 92% of employers are considering hiring remote or international employees in 2021. The companies we surveyed ranged from small businesses to multinational companies and covered over two dozen industries.
What’s your business model?
We take a service fee for being the legal employers of our clients’ employees and managing their payroll, employment taxes, legal compliance, and benefits.
How has COVID-19 impacted your business?
We founded Omnipresent in November 2019 with an understanding of the potential of remote employment solutions. With the onset of the global pandemic remote working exploded and the demand for our offering spiked. Essentially the pandemic accelerated what we already knew – the future of work is remote.
What was the funding process like?
We raised our pre-seed and seed rounds at the start of the pandemic. At that time, all of our advisors warned us that we would be unlikely to raise significant capital during this unprecedented period. Luckily, we found that it wasn’t the case for us and we were able to find some great backers quickly.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Fortunately, we were able to leverage our existing networks to speak to many investors, who were all very interested in jumping onto back-to-back Zoom calls with us. The biggest challenge while raising capital was actually building our business and a team remotely at the same time. In the early days of building a startup, the bond you form with your early team is the most important asset and while it was difficult at first to find that connection completely remotely, we are proud to say that we have overcome the challenge to build a very experienced team with a great team culture.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Aside from having an innovative product and solving a complex problem for companies, an important factor for investors was the team behind Omnipresent. We have an experienced group of entrepreneurs, international payroll, employment taxes, compliance, and operations experts. We are incredibly international with over a dozen different nationalities distributed over several countries that mirrors our clients and the world as we see it.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Last year we beat our target of expanding into 80 countries before December 2020 and instead were able to expand into 150. We are continuing to increase our global coverage as well as scaling our team.
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Unprecedented times bring unprecedented opportunities. This is a great time to put your head down and evaluate what people really need and to take the time and concentrate on building out a business model that is resistant to the changes we are facing.
Unprecedented times bring unprecedented opportunities. This is a great time to put your head down and evaluate what people really need and to take the time and concentrate on building out a business model that is resistant to the changes we are facing.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Omnipresent is providing the foundational infrastructure for companies that want to build international businesses. We are continuing to grow our share of the international employment market as the world shifts to remote work post the events of 2020. We envision that Omnipresent will become the leading operational support service for any company with dreams of international expansion.
What is your favourite restaurant in London?
So difficult to say as I have so many favourites but I look forward to the day the doors of Marcella in Deptford will open again. I keep going back for the fresh pasta, friendly service, and gorgeous homemade gelato!
