Freelancer company Fiverr International Ltd. has raised $15 million in its second financing round from Accel Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners, as well as private investors Guy Gamzu and Jonathan Kolber.
Fiverr enables freelances to offer their skills, talents and resources. They use the site to offer services, ranging from web design, logo creation and market research, to personal greetings, video animation, and personalized gifts. Fiverr now lists more than 750,000 services (gigs) priced between $5 and $150.
Fiverr removes the friction typically associated with starting a business, including startup capital, physical location, client acquisition and payment infrastructure. It provides all the tools necessary for sellers to engage, build and grow their customer base, including efficient systems for collecting payment, promoting services, managing orders, exchanging files and communicating with buyers.
Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman and CTO Shai Wininger founded the company in 2009. It has raised $20 million to date.
Fiverr will use the proceeds to speed up its global expansion and further develop its product. Fiverr said that its transaction volume has increased 600% since the beginning of 2011, and that it has over 40 employees in Israel, the US and Europe. The company plans to double its workforce by the end of this year, as it expands its presence in the US and globally. It claims that it is used by millions of people, and become one of the 100 most popular websites in the US and top 200 in the world.
In January 2012, the company launched Levels, a reputation-based promotion system to help freelancers build their business and earn more revenue. After sellers successfully complete at least ten transactions, they unlock advanced up-selling tools to offer Gig extras and charge more for their services.
Kaufman, said, "Fiverr offers a new way to work. Just as eBay completely changed e-commerce, we're planning to disrupt the services economy. We make it easy for anyone, anywhere, to start a small business and sell their skills and talents - from the serious and professional to the entertaining and odd. We've created a model that allows entrepreneurs to start small, learn and refine their services, and then grow them into a business and strong income source."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 6, 2012
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