Ashik Ahmed was chief technology officer of an aviation services business run by Steve Shelley. In 2008 the two founded Deputy in Sydney, building software that lets a manager schedule a shift from a phone.
Deputy was bootstrapped for about eight years. Its first outside round was a Series A of about $25 million in January 2017, led by OpenView. In November 2018 it raised a A$111 million Series B at a A$423 million valuation, backed by IVP, OpenView, Square Peg and EVP.
In 2020 the pandemic halved Deputy's user base of 2 million. The company laid off 30% of its staff, about 300 people at the time. Annual recurring revenue passed A$100 million by 2023, and statutory profit for FY23 was A$8.5 million, after a A$24.9 million loss the year before.
In February 2023 Ahmed stepped down as CEO and Silvija Martincevic took over. Express Employment Professionals invested A$37 million in 2023 and 2024.