Short answer: expanding a B2B company abroad takes seven jobs, and each has a tool or service that does it well in 2026:
- Hiring before you have an entity (Deel or Remote, from $599 per employee per month).
- Collecting tax-compliant revenue (Paddle as merchant of record, or Stripe Tax).
- Holding and moving money across currencies (Wise Business).
- Localizing the product (Lokalise).
- Running finance across several entities (Helmstead).
- Demoing in the buyer's language (Naoma AI).
- Generating the first pipeline (outbound).
Most companies buy them roughly in that order, but the pipeline should come first. Otherwise you're setting up an entity for a market that hasn't said yes.
| Job | Tool / service | Price (as listed, Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Hire without an entity | Deel / Remote | EOR from $599 per employee/mo |
| Sell and stay tax-compliant | Paddle (merchant of record) | 5% + 50¢ per transaction |
| Multi-currency banking | Wise Business | One-time $31 setup; conversion from 0.23% |
| Localize the product | Lokalise | From $149/mo |
| Finance across entities | Helmstead | See helmstead.co |
| Demos in 80+ languages | Naoma AI | From $249/mo, billed annually |
| First meetings in the market | Invental Partners | Fixed 5-week program |
1 · Validate the market before you build anything: outbound
Every later step costs money every month: an entity, an EOR contract, a local bank account. The cheapest way to find out whether a market wants you is to start conversations there first. That's what we do at Invental Partners. A 5-week program researches the ICP, holds 40–100 real conversations with buyers in the target market, and books qualified meetings from week 5. You get evidence before you commit to an entity. Market-specific playbooks: the US, Europe, LATAM and Asia-Pacific.
Let the market say yes before you sign a lease or an EOR contract.
2 · Demo in the buyer's language: Naoma AI
A buyer in São Paulo or Munich who fills in your demo form at 2 a.m. your time usually waits a day for a call, in English. Naoma AI closes that gap:
- An AI agent with a video avatar runs a live, personalized product demo straight away, on your site, in-app or from an outbound email.
- It speaks 80+ languages and answers questions and objections.
- It qualifies the lead and books a meeting with your sales team.
It learns the product from your sales scripts, demo recordings and knowledge base. Pricing is per engaged demo, from $249 a month (billed annually) for 50 demos.
3 · Hire before you have an entity: Deel, Remote or Oyster
An employer of record (EOR) employs people legally in a country on your behalf. Deel and Remote both list EOR from $599 per employee per month, and Oyster lists $699. It's the fastest way to put a first salesperson in-market. The usual rule: once headcount in a country makes the per-head EOR fee cost more than running your own entity, set one up.
4 · Get paid without registering for tax everywhere: Paddle or Stripe Tax
Selling software across borders means VAT and sales tax in dozens of jurisdictions.
- Paddle acts as merchant of record for 5% + 50¢ per transaction. It's the legal seller and takes on the tax filing.
- Stripe Tax is cheaper (0.5% per transaction on the basic plan) but only calculates and collects. You stay the seller of record, and filing is included only in its Complete plan.
5 · Hold and move money in many currencies: Wise Business
Wise Business gives you local account details in 22 currencies, holds balances for free and converts from 0.23%, after a one-time $31 setup fee. It isn't a full bank (no credit lines), but it's how most young companies receive their first euro or real payments.
6 · Localize the product: Lokalise
Lokalise manages translations of UI strings and content with your developers and translators in one workflow. Plans start at $149 a month, with a 14-day trial. Phrase is the heavier option for large localization programs.
7 · Keep finance sane across entities: Helmstead
The second entity is where spreadsheets break: two currencies, two accounting systems, two banks and a month-end close nobody can see in one place. Helmstead brings every entity, accounting system, bank and document together without replacing the systems you already run:
- AI agents draft the repetitive close work.
- Your finance team reviews and approves each proposal in one shared workspace.
- You can compare scenarios on past results.
It's built for companies that have grown past one legal entity and one currency, which is exactly what expansion produces.
Pick the finance setup for entity number two before you open it, not after the first messy quarter-end.