Work Market

Work Market
Industry FMS: Freelance marketplace websites
Founded 2010
Founder Jeffrey Leventhal, Jeffrey Wald
Headquarters Huntington, New York
Revenue $60 million[1]
Number of employees
 51[1]
Website workmarket.com

Work Market is a New York-based company that provides an online platform and marketplace for businesses to manage freelancers, contractors, and consultants. The company was founded in May 2010 by Jeffrey Leventhal and Jeffrey Wald.[2] In 2010 Work Market raised $6 million in seed funding to build its software platform and develop its marketplace and then raised its Series A $10 million round in 2013 to expand its sales and marketing efforts.[2][3][4][5][6][7] As of 2013, Work Market had approximately 57,000[8] workers using the marketplace and 400 subscription clients including several in the Fortune 500.[4]

Software

The company markets its platform and marketplace to businesses that work with and leverage freelancers, contractors, and consultants as part of their talent strategy.[4] Ninety-five percent of Work Market assignments, sourced by the attached freelancer marketplace, are for on-site work.[9] Many companies also user Work Market independently from the marketplace to manage their existing freelance talent communities.[2][4][7][9]

Work Market allows "buyers" to find workers, verify credentials, engage and onboard talent, manage work assignments and projects, process payments, and rate workers.[4] For workers, Work Market provides a marketplace to search and apply for assignments, share resumes, and build digital portfolios.[4] Both companies and workers use Work Market's dashboard to manage current assignments. Workers leverage the mobile app to find and manage assignments.[4]

History

Co-founder and CEO Jeffrey Leventhal conceived of the idea for Work Market after founding and departing from a previous business he started that helped manage IT talent.[2][4][10] His industry experience led him to believe that there was an opportunity to provide a more efficient method for hiring and managing contractors.[2] To form a founding team, Leventhal partnered with Jeffrey Wald, a Harvard Business School graduate who had served roles at J.P. Morgan Chase and VC fund GlenRock.[2] In 2011, Leventhal and Wald launched a beta version of the Work Market platform to a group of 20 companies. Until 2013, Work Market operated as an invitation-only service while it worked to build a larger base of corporate clients.[2][4][8]

Work Market's board of directors and advisor team consists of, among others, Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson, Spark Capital's Mo Koyfman, Tig Gilliam, Dave Treadway, and Softbank Capital general partner Jordan Levy.[11] Spark Capital's Mo Koyfman,[12] Ted Gilliam,[13] and Softbank Capital general partner Jordan Levy.[3][4]

In 2014 the company announced that it would partner with SAP to "provide a flexible, on-demand enterprise workforce trained in SAP solutions and sales techniques to help partners grow sales."[14]

Between 2011 and 2014, Work Market raised a total of $16 million in venture funding.[1][2][4]

Recognition

Work Market was recognized by Forbes as one of America's Most Promising Companies for 2014.[1][15][16]

Jeffrey Leventhal has also been honored as Staffing Industry Analysts Top 100[17] and he and Jeffrey Wald have been cited on the changing freelance economy by Bloomberg, Fortune, Huffington Post, Staffing Industry Analysts, CRN Magazine, Entrepreneur, IT Business Edge, U.S. News & World Report, and HR.com.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Work Market". Forbes. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Work Market manages IT staffers the one-stop way". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "SoftBank Capital Raises $53 Million Fund To Continue Investing In New York Startups". Business Insider. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 "Work Market lands $10m to bring its service for managing freelance workforces out of stealth mode". The Next Web. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Work Market Secures $10,000,000 Series B Financing Round". Xconomy. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Levy, others to oversee $51M investment fund". Buffalo Business First. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "NYC Startup Scene Boosted by 50-Fold Tumblr Deal Return". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Can This Startup Help Freelancers Earn More?". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Your next job, next year, may be self-employment". Computerworld. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Jeffrey Leventhal speaks about Work Market and work markets". Gigaom. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital invest in Work Market". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Twitter Investor Spark Promotes Mo Koyfman To General Partner". Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  13. ↑ "People: Work Market, Staffing Consultants, Prestige Employee Administrators". Staffing Industry Analysis. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  14. ↑ "SAP, Work Market Team Up To Bring Freelance Talent To Partners". CRN. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  15. ↑ "America's Most Promising Companies 2014". Forbes. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Work Market on Forbes' Most Promising Companies list". Newsday. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Staffing Industry Analysts Top 100". Staffing Industry Analysts. Retrieved May 1, 2014.

External links