Partnership Announcements| March 2026
WorkFlex: Compliance Infrastructure for a Borderless Workforce
The way people work – and more specifically, where they work – has changed. Employees work remotely across geographies, expecting flexibility that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Businesses have increasingly globalized, necessitating fluid travel across borders. All told, managing an active workforce compliantly has gotten more complex.
When Pieter Manden and Patrick Koch founded WorkFlex in 2022, they did so with a key insight into this shift: global mobility compliance was becoming a structural bottleneck for modern companies. Today, we announced our investment in WorkFlex, partnering to build the compliance infrastructure that enables global work at scale – eliminating exposure to tax, immigration, labor, and social security risks for both companies and their employees.
Founder Conviction and the Start of a Partnership
As we learned in our early conversations with them, Pieter and Patrick each brought unique – and invaluable – perspectives to WorkFlex’s formation. Pieter, a certified tax lawyer and global mobility specialist, had spent 10+ years leading PwC’s remote work compliance function, and had a firsthand understanding of the problem. Patrick brought the product and automation mindset – with experience in tech strategy consulting, and in building and scaling digital platforms.
The two agreed that the current model was reactive, fragmented, and fundamentally not built for scale. Companies were trying to manage cross-border travel and work-from-anywhere arrangements using spreadsheets, manual approvals, and expensive consulting engagements. Pieter and Patrick envisioned a platform that could codify complex regulatory requirements into a powerful global compliance risk engine.
Beyond their domain expertise, the two had a striking clarity of mission: compliance should enable global work, not restrict it. As companies expand internationally and talent becomes more mobile, compliance complexity increases. Software, not services, will win this category.
Global Mobility Is Growing – and So Is the Associated Risk
Today’s companies face a web of regulatory exposure when employees work across borders, including VISA & work entitlement, permanent establishment, wage tax, social security, posted workers directive (PWD), labour law, data protection, and insurance.
Historically, these issues were managed manually or outsourced to advisory firms. But that approach can’t keep pace in a world where thousands of trips and remote work arrangements happen every month.
Meanwhile, enforcement is increasing. Governments are digitizing border systems and cross-referencing tax and social security data. What used to be low-probability risk is becoming more visible and auditable.
WorkFlex replaces manual workflows and fragmented advisory processes with an automated compliance platform. As the trusted system of record to manage cross-border compliance, customers use WorkFlex to:
- Assess risk before cross-border travel or remote work
- Automatically generate required documentation (Visas, A1s / CoCs, PWDs, etc.)
- Maintain a full audit trail
- Continuously monitor employee safety and compliance
- Centralize approvals across HR, tax, legal, and finance
Signals We Recognize, a Category Coming into Focus
What attracted us to WorkFlex was both the distinctiveness of its solution and how closely it aligned with learnings from our portfolio. WorkFlex demonstrates the characteristics we believe underpin lasting, category-leading businesses:
- Founder-led, capital-efficient businesses built for the long game. WorkFlex’s founders grew the business deliberately, prioritizing product depth and customer trust over growth-at-all-costs. Portfolio companies like Origami Risk, SurveyMonkey, and Lucid all arrived at Spectrum with strong foundations and a clear sense of where they were going next.
- Compliance and risk management embedded in mission-critical workflows. The best risk and compliance platforms become systems companies rely on to operate with confidence. WorkFlex belongs in this category: it sits at the intersection of labor law, tax exposure, and duty-of-care, turning a sprawling set of cross-border obligations into something manageable. We’ve backed businesses making this same transition from “point solution” to “infrastructure” across adjacent domains, including Netcraft, World-Check, Verafin, and Ethoca.
- Tax and HR technology solving problems that grow with the workforce. As the nature of work has evolved, so has the complexity of managing the people doing it. WorkFlex addresses one of the sharpest edges of that complexity: the tax and employment law implications of employees working across borders. We’ve developed conviction in this space through partnerships with Zenwork, Tenstreet, Poppins Payroll, and Employee Navigator, and see WorkFlex as a natural extension of that thesis into an increasingly global workforce.
- Travel technology meeting the modern enterprise. WorkFlex also connects to our longstanding interest in how technology is reshaping business travel – and the compliance, policy, and employee experience layers underneath it. Prior investments including Lighthouse and ITA Software reflect our belief that travel tech is still early in its transformation, and that the consumerization of the travel experience is now reaching enterprise workflows in meaningful ways.
Partnering for the Growth Ahead
We’re excited to support Patrick, Pieter and the entire WorkFlex team during this next phase of growth. As we experienced during our diligence process with the team, they move fast – and we’re eager to support them as they roll out new product features and functionalities, expand internationally, and further develop partnerships within the broader travel compliance ecosystem.
Portfolio companies referenced are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an offer, solicitation or recommendation to sell or purchase, any securities, investment products or investment advisory services. For a list of Spectrum Equity’s portfolio companies, please visit https://spctrm.pe/list-of-investments, which is updated periodically and reflects investments that have been publicly announced. No assumption should be made that any portfolio company referenced was or will be profitable. The forward-looking statements and views expressed herein are those of Spectrum Equity as of the date presented, are subject to change, and do not guarantee future results.
The content on this site, including but not limited to blog posts, portfolio news, Spectrum news, and external coverage, is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Use of any information presented is at your own risk. Spectrum Equity is not responsible for any content reposted above from any third party website, and has not verified the accuracy of any third party content contained above. Spectrum Equity makes no guarantees or other representations regarding any results that may be obtained from use of this content. Investment decisions should always be made in consultation with a financial advisor and based on individual research and due diligence. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and there is a possibility of loss in connection with an investment in any Spectrum Fund.
Inclusion in any third-party list, award, rating, ranking, or other recognition is not indicative of Spectrum Equity’s future performance and may not be representative of any investor’s experience. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Spectrum Equity disclaims all liability for any inaccuracies, omissions, or reliance on the information, analysis, or opinions presented.