Israeli freelance gig platform operator Fiverr has acquired US SaaS platform for freelancers AND Co. No financial details were disclosed but market sources believe that Fiverr paid several million dollars for AND CO, which has raised $2.5 million since it was founded in New York City in 2015. Fiverr has raised $111 million since it was founded in 2010 by CEO Micha Kaufman and Shai Wininger. In 2012, Fiverr was chosen as "Globes" most promising startup.
Fiverr operates an online for freelance and small business service providers such as graphic designers, copyrighters, musicians, movie producers and much more.
AND CO was founded by CEO Leif Abraham and Martin Strutz. Their SaaS plastform serves 60,000 small businesses and assists them in such areas as contracts with customers, receving payment, issuing invoices, managing applications and tracking income and expenses. Fiverr said that AND CO's SaaS offerings will now be provided at no cost, offering "offline and online professional freelancers everywhere efficiency, organization and opportunity." For the time being, both companies will continue operating independently although AND CO will be renamed AND CO from Fiverr.
Kaufman said, "We built Fiverr to help people live the freelancing lifestyle. That’s why we’ve always sought to provide every freelancer with the opportunity to succeed. As a marketplace, Fiverr has built all the tools necessary to conduct your business as a freelancer. This includes everything from efficiently creating invoices and receiving payments to managing one’s time and projects. But even still today, 97% of freelancing is done offline, and we believe those freelancers should also enjoy access to these premium tools, and it shouldn’t have a cost associated with it."
He added, "Adding AND CO to the Fiverr family is another step in realizing that vision and making a meaningful difference in the lives of freelancers building businesses online and offline. We’re eager to get to work building more of the products and solutions that help entrepreneurs and freelancers effectively collaborate and do more."
Abraham said, "Having the opportunity to join the Fiverr team is an extension of AND CO’s original mission of enabling people to focus on the work they love most. This new chapter is a chance to globally scale AND CO and bring more freelancers from the offline world to the online one, something that could only be accomplished the help of a market leader and massive community like Fiverr."
Last June, Fiverr acquired vertical video marketplace player Veed.me which enables users to produce high quality animated videos. Fiverr says that it continues to seek acquisition opportunities of services and tools in the online gig arena that will help freelancers and small businesses to improve management of their enterprises.
Fiverr has offices in Tel Aviv, New York, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 25, 2018
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