# Deel sells its internal AI tool Akai

> Deel CEO and co-founder Alex Bouaziz said Akai helped add more than $140 million in new ARR in 90 days without added headcount. The company is now offering the operations automation tool as a standalone product.

- Publication: Go Big News
- By Nifal Adam, Go Big News Staff (Staff News)
- Category: AI
- Published: 2026-09-22T20:31:55.964+00:00
- Canonical: https://www.gobignews.com/ai/deel-sells-its-internal-ai-tool-akai

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[Deel](https://www.deel.com) added more than $140 million in new ARR in 90 days without increasing headcount, CEO and co-founder Alex Bouaziz said in a post on X. He attributed the result to Akai, an AI system that automated work equivalent to about 600 full-time employees.

Akai began as an internal tool for repetitive operations work in finance, HR and other back-office functions. Deel now sells it as a standalone product with separate contracts, infrastructure and pricing, and customers do not need to use Deel’s core platform.

The product’s model is to have a user demonstrate a workflow once, then let AI agents carry it out across multiple systems. CPA Practice Advisor reported in May 2026 that Deel launched Akai as an agentic workflow platform for automating portal-based operations tasks "without needing a developer, an API, or an IT integration project."

Akai’s site says the platform has saved more than 1 million hours, handles more than 250,000 cases automatically each month and has more than 10,000 live agents across finance, payments and regulatory operations. In a September 2 blog post, Deel said Akai was deployed across all of its internal operations teams, including Finance, Tax, Treasury, Benefits and HR, and handled more than 100,000 cases automatically per month while saving 91,000 hours per month. The blog figures differ from the ones later published on akai.run.

Published pricing starts at $125 per agent per month, plus AI processing token costs and monthly minimums.

Deel provides hiring, payroll, compliance, benefits and employer-of-record services for global employees and contractors in more than 150 countries. The company was founded in 2019 by Bouaziz and Shuo Wang, its CRO, and is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. In October 2025, Deel announced a $300 million Series E that valued it at $17.3 billion.

Bouaziz announced the $140 million ARR and 600-FTE-equivalent figures in a post on X.

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## Companies in this story

- Deel: https://www.gobignews.com/company/deel

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## X profiles in this story

- @bouazizalex: https://www.gobignews.com/profile/bouazizalex