How Ubie saves 1 week on onboarding with Deel EOR

Ubie is a web-based AI symptom checker that allows users to enter their symptoms and get a list of possible causes for their condition. Co-founded by a medical doctor and an engineer, this app can largely support clinicians in informed and more efficient decision making.

Ubie chose to open their own entities as a form of global expansion, but this model was expensive. In Singapore, the company had only three employees, so the costs of maintaining the entity, including various fees and taxes, soon became unsustainable.

"Maintaining an entity in Singapore became too expensive for our small team. With Deel, we found a cost-efficient solution for global hiring and HR and compliance processes.” —Tina Katna, HRBP at Ubie

For Tina Katna, Ubie’s HRBP, managing payroll for an increasing number of countries, each with its own payroll and compliance regulations, posed another big challenge.

When Ubie started exploring potential EOR solutions, they landed on a different vendor. However, the fees were almost as high as maintaining their own entity, including many hidden and unexpected costs, which limited their growth as a startup. Finally, after a bad experience with a visa application process, Ubie started looking at other providers.

Deel EOR stood out as a highly recommended solution with a great reputation that Ubie’s team has already heard of before. The startup decided to see if Deel EOR could provide the support, cost-efficiency, and transparency in communication and pricing they needed.

“Managing payroll in complex environments like India and the Philippines is a challenge. Thanks to Deel EOR, I have confidence that we’re 100% compliant every step of the way,” says Katna

Deel EOR assisted Ubie with closing down the Singapore entity, hiring Singapore-based employees through Deel's solution, and transitioning employees from other countries hired through their first vendor, including a visa application in process.

With the help of Deel’s expert team, Ubie navigated the cancellation of their employees’ existing contracts and the creation of new ones on our platform, as well as management of other compliance and legal documentation throughout the transition process.

One of the main concerns the Ubie team had was about their non-resident employees in Singapore, as they needed an employment pass to stay and work in the country.

Deel assured Ubie that the employee assessment would happen without issues, even before the company officially became a client. This helped establish trust in our expertise and put both Ubie and their employees at ease, facilitating the startup’s decision to close the Singapore entity.

“Deel gave us a better idea of what was necessary for the process, and it was a huge consolation for us. We really appreciated Deel helping us overcome this big challenge, even before we signed the contract.” —Tina Katna, HRBP at Ubie

Deel EOR helped Ubie seamlessly hire employees in three countries, saving them $17,000 per year just by closing the Singapore entity.

Ubie can now think about global expansion without worrying about visas, manual payments, and unpredictable costs. Deel’s smooth process simplifies employment contracts, work permits, compliance, and even the tricky visa applications, according to Katna.

And that's not all.

Onboarding new team members used to take at least a day per person, whereas with Deel EOR, Katna reduced this process to just a few clicks. Before Deel EOR, she would spend a week onboarding their EOR employees; Deel made this process a matter of minutes.

Deel EOR’s automated invoicing allowed Katna to be more efficient with her day-to-day work. She can now manage all invoices, documents, and payments in one platform, which is particularly helpful with small-amount contractor invoices.

Instead of chasing 30-40 invoices scattered around Google Drive every month, Ubie can now seamlessly manage everything under one roof.