CoComply Lands £1.9M From Mercia and Haatch to Track Down Contractors Buried in Supplier Contracts

"Despite growing reliance on external workers in every industry, many businesses still struggle to answer a very basic question: how many people actually work for us, what are they doing and how are they engaged?" Cleavely said. He added that the company aims to provide the decision and governance layer across the teams involved, helping them choose the right engagement model and classify work correctly from the outset.

IR35 is the UK's off‑payroll working framework, which determines whether someone working through their own company should be taxed as an employee. Since April 2021, responsibility for that decision has rested with medium and large private sector clients rather than the contractor.

HM Revenue and Customs estimated in February 2025 that around 120,000 workers were likely affected by the 2021 reform in the private and voluntary sectors. A June 2026 Treasury answer to a parliamentary question put the additional revenue raised at about £4.2 billion in tax, National Insurance and Apprenticeship Levy payments by the end of March 2023.

A second rule change arrived on October 1, when the Right to Work scheme, which requires employers to confirm that people can legally work in the UK, was widened beyond employees. It now reaches individual subcontractors and some people engaged through online matching services. Modern slavery reporting obligations add a third layer for larger organisations that rely on supply chains for labour.

Each of these rules depends on a company knowing who is doing the work. That visibility is the gap CoComply is built to close.

CoComply reports revenue growth of 240 percent in 2025 and forecasts growth of more than 120 percent in 2026. Customer numbers rose 300 percent year on year. Its clients range from mid‑market businesses to FTSE 100 companies and include Aston Martin, Take‑Two, RS Group, Thredd, Quint Group, Dementia UK and the Royal Yachting Association.

The company's investor materials describe a global market of about £2 trillion in independent contractor and statement‑of‑work consulting spend. They also state that between 50 and 70 percent of contractor spend is not classified by HR or procurement teams, and that fragmented data across systems and contracts is the reason traditional tools struggle with the problem.

Maurice Disasi, investment manager at Mercia Ventures, said: "Organisations increasingly rely on outsourcing, yet many lack a clear understanding of who is delivering the work." He said CoComply's ability to identify and classify hidden workers sets it apart from other solutions as regulation and governance requirements grow. Mercia Ventures also led the $6 million round in UK advice software startup PlannerPal earlier this month.

Marwa Ebrahim, associate at Haatch, said the platform gives organisations visibility and control over their external workforce. She pointed to the team's first‑hand understanding of the problem, the traction it has built and the chance to set a new standard for workforce compliance. Haatch is an early‑stage venture firm that says it has backed more than 200 companies.

Grand View Research valued the global RegTech market at $24.3 billion in 2025 and forecasts it will reach about $112.1 billion by 2033, a compound annual growth rate of 21.1 percent from 2026.

Several compliance‑focused companies have raised capital in recent months. Formalize secured €30 million for governance, risk and compliance software, Kertos raised €14 million for AI compliance in Europe, and Sphinx took in $7.1 million for AI compliance agents in banking. US‑based Delve, which automates security and privacy compliance, raised a $32 million Series A in July 2025 at a $300 million valuation. Deel raised $300 million at a $17.3 billion valuation in October 2025 and offers contractor management and compliance tools for people hired and paid through its own platform.