As the world’s largest marketplace for creative and professional services, Fiverr® is pleased to announce today Series C funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel Partners, Qumra Capital and additional private investors for $30M, accelerating a large scale shift toward a new workplace where independent workers and businesses can connect on a global scale.
As the global economy continues to evolve — with freelancers playing a more vital role every year — one company is poised to capitalize on this area of tremendous growth.
“By 2020 the number of independent workers is predicted to double, with online freelancing increasing at an even faster rate,” says Fiverr Co-Founder and CEO Micha Kaufman. “The landscape of opportunity far exceeds the current playing field. This funding is an affirmation of the brand resonance and trust we have established in this multi-billion dollar market of opportunity.”
Services-as-a-Product – Introducing Fiverr 3.0
The first generation of freelancing sites was based on the traditional staffing model, centering on recruiting and outsourcing. Fiverr takes a unique approach by providing an “e-commerce experience” that empowers creative people to package their skills as products — enabling the buying and selling of services in just a few clicks — and eliminating any negotiation friction. This pioneering model effectively offers “Services-as-a-Product,” or SaaP.
“One of the many reasons Fiverr is so exciting is that it is the only service-based marketplace modeled on e-commerce platforms,” says Adam Fisher, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “Like eBay and Amazon, customers simply browse, search, and buy, selecting from more than 100 categories and millions of services. It’s as easy as buying a book online. Why hire someone to do something that is done thousands of times a day for a pricey sum and an unknown delivery date when you can order for next day delivery on Fiverr?”
“We started introducing services for more than $5 two years ago and today the majority of our revenue is from orders well above $5,” said Michiel Kotting, Partner at Accel Partners. “Fiverr continues to be the world’s #1 global marketplace with an order being placed every 4.7 seconds. Few marketplaces can match Fiverr’s product depth and liquidity.”
Beginning today, with 10 categories, and rolling out across all categories in coming weeks, Fiverr 3.0 allows buyers to customize their search to suit their very particular needs. For example, if a small business wanted to purchase a voiceover for a new product launch video, it allows the buyer to search and sort by highly specific criteria such as whether the seller is top-rated along with gender, accent and region.
Through Fiverr’s highly regarded community rating system, buyers have complete confidence in their purchases because they can fully see the seller’s online reputation.
Be Local, Do Business Global
This third round of funding enables Fiverr to further accelerate growth and product releases and enable extensive marketing to bring the Fiverr vision to more people globally, transforming a freelancer’s formerly limited local pool of clients into an endless demand for talent on a global scale. Fiverr also allows local businesses to source the most optimal and cost effective talent and services regardless of geography. This enables a Denver-based graphic artist to sell services to individuals and companies in London, Berlin and Sydney.