A CFO with two IPOs and a stated ambition
On November 3, 2025, Deel announced that Joe Kauffman, a former Intuit executive who had led Credit Karma as CEO and served as CFO of TAL Education Group through its own public offering, would become the company's chief financial officer, succeeding founding CFO Philippe Bouaziz. Kauffman told Reuters, 'We don't have an exact timing in place now, but IPO is definitely the intent. With two IPOs under my belt, I'm looking for a hat-trick.'
That is among the most direct statements of intent found on this site, but it is still an intent, not a filing. Kauffman's appointment came alongside other senior hires, including a chief risk officer, a compliance chief, and a general counsel, which CEO Alex Bouaziz described as 'strong validation' of Deel's market position.
The funding behind the ambition
Deel's Series E round, announced October 16, 2025 and led by Ribbit Capital with Andreessen Horowitz and Coatue Management participating, raised $300 million at a $17.3 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. Kauffman told Reuters the company recorded its first $100 million revenue month in September 2025 and now generates roughly $15 million to $17 million in EBITDA, processing about $22 billion in annual payroll for 37,000 clients across 150 countries.
That is a large, profitable-sounding growth story by private-company standards. It is still a funding round and a set of operating metrics reported by the company to a single outlet, not an audited public filing, and Kauffman himself was explicit that the timing of any listing is not yet set.
A legal fight running in parallel
Deel's fundraising and CFO hire have unfolded alongside a bitter corporate-espionage lawsuit with rival Rippling, which has accused Deel of racketeering, trade-secret misappropriation, and unfair competition; unsealed documents reported by calcalistech in November 2025 tied Deel to payments for an alleged Rippling spy, a characterization Deel has disputed, pointing to what it calls witness incentives. Deel filed its own defamation suit against Rippling in April 2025, and in January 2026 the US Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into the espionage allegations, issuing grand jury subpoenas, according to The Wall Street Journal; an investigation is not a finding of wrongdoing.
None of that litigation activity is itself an IPO step, but an unresolved, high-profile lawsuit alleging corporate espionage is the kind of disclosure item that typically has to be addressed in any future registration statement. Until Deel files one, or Kauffman names an actual timeline, any specific 'Deel IPO date' remains speculation.