Fiverr, the world's largest marketplace for creative and professional services, has raised $30 million in Series C funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel Partners, Qumra Capital and additional private investors.
Fiverr was chosen as "Globes" most promising Israeli start-up for 2012.
Fiverr lists over 3 million jobs in more than 100 different categories across 196 countries making it one of the top 130 websites in the world according to Alexa.com. With a team of 130 employees in Tel Aviv, New York and Miami, Fiverr says it is accelerating a large scale shift toward a new workplace where independent workers and businesses can connect on a global scale. With freelancers playing a more vital role every year, Fiverr claims it 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."
"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.
This latest 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.
Erez Shachar, Managing Partner at Qumra Capital says, "As the future of work is increasingly dominated by freelancers, entrepreneurs and independent workers, Fiverr is positioning itself as the home for this rapidly growing community. We're excited about investing in a company that is central to the success of millions of participants in the Gig Economy."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 11, 2014
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