Techstars is a global platform that provides investment and innovation. Through the Techstars Worldwide Entrepreneur Network, founders and their teams connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporate partners who will help their companies grow. Techstars operates four divisions: Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Program supercharges success and Techstars Startup Programs inspire, educate, and connect entrepreneurs. Techstars Venture Capital Fund invests in innovative and disruptive companies. Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships help brands create products and services. Techstars' accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,000 companies with a market cap of $8.1 billion.

Techstars

AfriBlocks

AfriBlocks is a global Pan-African collaboration platform and marketplace of vetted African freelance professionals equipped with intuitive collaboration tools and a secure payment system that makes it easy to get remote contract projects completed affordably.

<div><p>The Techstars backed startup, AfriBlocks is a pan-African collaboration platform for African freelancers that provides a secure payment system and relevant collaboration tools. Clients are provided with three relevant freelancers as well as a project manager to oversee the project. Once the project is completed payment is conducted via Escrow. AfriBlocks has received undisclosed investments, networking, and mentoring opportunities under Techstars Seattle, Transparent Collective, and Google. The company has offices in Harare and Los Angeles.</p></div>

The on-demand economy has finally reached white collar work.

Online Freelancing Platforms

<div>
  <p>
    The Techstars backed startup, AfriBlocks is a pan-African collaboration platform for African freelancers that provides a secure payment system and relevant collaboration tools. Clients are provided with three relevant freelancers as well as a project manager to oversee the project. Once the project is completed payment is conducted via Escrow. AfriBlocks has received undisclosed investments, networking, and mentoring opportunities under Techstars Seattle, Transparent Collective, and Google. The company has offices in Harare and Los Angeles. 
  </p>
  <p>
    Through its partnership with Coursera (edtech company) and Ingressive For Good (African nonprofit organisation), AfriBlocks provides freelancers with community and development resources. The company is also in discussion with Datacamp to offer resources to data scientists. 
  </p>
  <p>
    As of March 2021, The company reports over 2,000 freelancers and over 400 buyers and more than USD 60,000 in revenue since its inception. 
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    Tempo is a UK-based platform connecting businesses to local freelancers. The company is currently based in London and Manchester.
  </p>
  <p>
    The company claims it can significantly lower hiring lead time and cut recruitment costs by 65%. As of February 2022, the platform has worked with 2,500+ clients in sectors such as financial services, software, and e-commerce. The platform has a pool of 80,000 candidates up for permanent and temporary roles.
  </p>
  <p>
    The platform’s most recent funding came in June 2020 when it raised its Series A extension worth USD 6.4 million led by industry incumbent  The Adecco Group. The fresh capital will be used to fuel its expansion across the UK and boost hiring from 35 to 50 team members in 2020.
  </p>
</div>


Tempo

<div>
  <p>
    Textbroker is a platform for creative writing freelancers to connect with businesses. Textbroker freelancers work on projects such as social media posts, news stories, and blog posts. The platform provides content in over 35 languages, while connecting businesses with freelancers in the target country.
  </p>
  <p>
    As of October 2020, the platform served over 80,000 clients and has processed over 10 million orders. The platform's pricing starts at USD 1.5 cents per word and serves clients including Ebay and Staples.
  </p>
</div>


Textbroker

<div>
  <p>
    Procurement Freelancers provides freelancers for procurement functions such as sourcing/category management, quality control and assurance, and advisory.
  </p>
  <p>
    The platform is free to use for freelancers, while clients purchase subscriptions to hire and manage freelancers at no added cost.
  </p>
  <p>
    In March 2019, the company acquired Dragon Sourcing, a procurement and sourcing service provider.
  </p>
</div>


Procurement Freelancers

<div>
  <p>
    Kolabtree  is a UK-based  freelancer marketplace connecting businesses and scientists. The platform provides businesses with skills such as data analysis, product development, scientific consulting, desk research, and other science related services within 24 hours of receiving business requests.
  </p>
  <p>
    As of September 2020, the platform had a pool of over 15,000 freelancers (across 170+ countries) qualified in over 2,000 scientific disciplines. In addition, the company has worked with over 3,500 businesses over the past three years and has 8,000 active users. 
  </p>
</div>


kolabtree

<div>
  <p>
    Codersera is a freelance marketplace for businesses seeking developers. The company claims to provide the top 1% of developers through its five tier vetting process. The platform’s freelancers cover a spectrum of developer and data science technologies such as iOS, Android, Python, and Java.
  </p>
</div>


Codersera Inc

Some solutions introduced by players in this hub are using a B2B SaaS model

Solutions use AI/Ml for to match freelancers with clients and to vet freelancers

Platforms that offer expertise across multiple verticals such as design and creative, web, mobile and software development, finance, and marketing.

AfriBlocks

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