Zeely raises $1M from Deel after winning startup competition
What's the deal? ZeelyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Ukrainian AI marketing startup, has raised $1 million from Deel after winning an international startup competition organised by Deel and J.P. Morgan in Paris. The contest attracted more than 50,000 startups worldwide, with 84 reaching the final. Zeely took first place before a jury that included representatives from Andreessen Horowitz and Tencent.
Zeely builds an AI-powered platform that helps small and medium-sized businesses create and scale digital advertising without specialised technical skills. Its mobile app automates the creation of marketing materials and ad campaigns. The startup says it already has more than 1 million users, with the US as its key market.
The company was founded by Dmytro Samoiliuk, Yaroslav Samoiliuk, and Alina Bondarenko, who spent over eight years in digital and performance marketing before launching Zeely. It now employs more than 170 people and says it is growing more than sixfold year-on-year.
Why now? This is Zeely's second $1M raise. In April 2023, it closed a seed round from Ukrainian funds Vesna.Capital, ZAS VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Angel One Fund, Belarusian firm Imaguru VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and several angel investors. The new capital from Deel will go toward scaling the platform, expanding AI features, and deepening its US presence.
The competition itself signals a broader trend: major global companies like Deel and J.P. Morgan are actively scouting early-stage AI startups through large-scale contests, creating new funding pathways outside traditional VC channels.
What could go wrong? The AI marketing tools space is crowded and fast-moving, with well-funded competitors targeting the same SMB audience. Zeely also faces the operational challenges that come with building a 170-person company while headquartered in a country at war — from talent retention to infrastructure risks.
A $1 million investment, while symbolic, is modest by current AI startup standards. Zeely will likely need significantly more capital to compete at scale in the US market.
The signal: Deel's investment in Zeely marks a notable move for the HR-tech giant as a corporate investor backing early-stage AI companies outside its core domain. With Zeely classified as an "early growth" stage company on Dealroom and already claiming more than 1 million users and sixfold year-on-year expansion, the startup's trajectory suggests genuine product-market fit in the SMB marketing automation space — a segment where stickiness, not just adoption, will determine which players survive the current AI tools shakeout.
Read more: InVenture
