Rocket Internet incubates, builds, develops operationally and strategically invests in internet and technology companies globally. It provides operational support to its companies and helps them scale internationally. Rocket Internet's selected companies are active in a large number of countries around the world.

Rocket Internet

10x Value Partners is one of the world‘s best early stage investment firms based on blended IRR. We make selected investments in companies where we can move the needle and provide an unfair advantage to the business.

10x Value Partners

Acton Capital is a leading later-stage venture capital investor with presence in Munich and Vancouver. Since 1999, the Acton team backs startups in the fields of fintech, SaaS, consumer health, mobility & logistics, education or future of work on their way to market leadership. With over two decades of investment experience in tech-enabled business models, the team has invested 700+M EUR in more than 199 companies across five fund generations. Acton Capital invests worldwide, with a strong focus on Europe and North America.

Acton Capital

Kreos Capital is Europe's largest and leading provider of growth debt to high-growth companies with revenues up to €150 million. Since 1998, as the pioneer growth debt provider across the UK, Western Europe, Scandinavia and Israel: Kreos has completed nearly 450 transactions and committed €1.8 billion in 14 different countries. Kreos has a proven track record of adding value to portfolio companies and helping them to grow with additional capital and flexibility throughout their business cycle whilst working closely with both the portfolio company management team and their equity sponsors.  The Kreos global team has extensive debt financing, management and equity investing experience, covering the pan-European market from its locations in London, Tel Aviv and Stockholm.  Kreos is a value added partner, able to offer additional capital and more flexibility with lower equity dilution. Kreos's international team has extensive entrepreneurial, debt financing and equity investing experience, covering all local European markets from its locations in London, Tel Aviv and Stockholm.

Kreos Capital

Expertlead

Expertlead is a HR tech company specialized in the recruitment and technical qualification of IT experts. The company's unique selling proposition is the exceptional combination of technology and community know-how that enables it to find, assess and hire the right IT experts. Technical skills of IT candidates are assessed through a special peer-to-peer interview process, where Expertlead uses the collective intelligence of the global tech community to check the quality of applicants across different programming languages. In combination with an innovative recruiting software, Expertlead can offer a holistic solution in tech recruiting. Over the past years, the company has built up a global community of highly qualified tech freelancers in the fields of software development, data science, product/project management, solution architecture and UX/UI design.

Expertlead is a German freelancer platform that connects businesses with tech talent via its Expertmatch platform. The platform focuses on five core verticals: developers, data scientists, solution architects, product managers, and designers, with only 5% of applicants being accepted.

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

Online Freelancing Platforms

Berlin-based expertlead raises €9.5 million to connect companies worldwide with the best IT professionals

Expertlead is a German freelancer platform that connects businesses with tech talent via its Expertmatch platform. The platform focuses on five core verticals: developers, data scientists, solution architects, product managers, and designers, with only 5% of applicants being accepted.Expertmatch allows businesses to hire freelance tech experts within 48 hours through a peer-to-peer screening process. This process includes a coding challenge and technical interview, where candidates demonstrate their skills in front of senior experts from the community.&nbsp;The company’s Experthire service provides businesses with pre-qualified developers for permanent positions. Additionally, Expertlead offers a candidate testing service (Expertview) to assess tech skills of full-time job applicants.Key customers and partnershipsThe company’s portfolio of clients included Mercedes-Benz, Spotify and Volkswagen. As of October 2024, the platform had over 3,000 vetted freelancers.

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. Platform pricing starts at USD 2.3 cents per word.Key customers and partnershipsAs of October 2024, the platform served over 80,000 clients, including eBay, Otto and RVshare. The company also had 100,000+ registered freelancers on the platform as of October 2024.

Textbroker

Procurement Freelancers provides freelancers for procurement functions such as sourcing/category management, quality control and assurance, and advisory. Its algorithm calculates the relevance between experts' skills and client briefs by scoring criteria like skills, experience, and language. It prioritizes search criteria based on user preferences to deliver the most accurate match.The platform is free to use for freelancers, while clients purchase subscriptions to hire and manage freelancers at no added cost.In March 2019, the company acquired Dragon Sourcing, a procurement and sourcing service provider.Key competitors: None under coverage. (The platform connects enterprises with procurement-based freelancers)

Procurement Freelancers

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.Kolabtree also provides concierge services for writing, with fees ranging from USD 2,000 to USD 4,000, depending on the timeline. Similarly, its concierge services for statistical analysis are priced between USD 250 and USD 625, also based on the timeline.The company generates revenue via a 20% service fee charged to the freelancers based on the total project invoice.Key customers and partnershipsAs of October 2024, Kolabtree served over 3,200 businesses including notable enterprises such as NASA, Volkswagen and Moderna. Further, the platform had over 20,000 scientists and experts as of October 2024.Key competitors:&nbsp;None under coverage. (Kolabtree offers a freelancing platform connecting enterprises with scientists).

kolabtree

Codersera is a freelance marketplace for enterprises to find software engineers. 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. Additionally, freelancers provide SaaS platform development, testing and QA services and migration away from legacy systems.Key customers and partnershipsAs of October 2024, the platform had over 20,000 vetted freelancers and 100+ clients on its platform.

Codersera Inc

Upwork is an online labor marketplace that assists in engaging freelancers and businesses in discovering direct labor arrangements for both short and long-term projects. Upwork’s roots date back to 1998 and 2003 when online talent marketplaces Elance and oDesk were founded. In December 2013, Elance and oDesk announced its merger with a combined freelancer base of over 8 million (5 million from oDesk and 3 million from Elance). Subsequent to the merger, Elance-oDesk continued to report losses and required a bailout package of USD 30 million from Benchmark Capital in November 2014. The company was rebranded as Upwork in May 2015.&nbsp;Unlike Fiverr, Upwork encourages freelancers to develop a profile focused on specific expertise, helping them build a niche reputation. Fiverr, on the other hand, allows freelancers to offer a wide range of services through individual gigs, enabling them to market multiple skill sets simultaneously. In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16664">February 2023</a> Upwork expanded its offerings to include full-time hiring for businesses with features such as finding, vetting, hiring, onboarding, and paying professionals for full-time work arrangements.&nbsp; Additionally, in&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24502">December 2023</a>, Upwork launched Chat Pro, a GPT-4-powered app in beta, to enhance work efficiency. In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/35568">October 2024</a>, Upwork introduced&nbsp; Uma, an AI assistant, the Business Plus plan for Expert-Vetted talent, Featured Jobs, and Boosted Profiles. At the time, the company also announced a 21% workforce&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/35569">reduction</a> aiming to save USD 60 million annually.Upwork also offers several solutions to streamline hiring: Talent Scout, connecting clients with pre-vetted freelancers; the Work Marketplace and Project Catalog for easy hiring; and the Virtual Talent Bench, which helps businesses build and maintain a network of freelancers for ongoing collaboration.The company generates revenue via a 10% project fee charged from clients, and freelancer subscriptions priced at USD 20 per month.In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/03/upwork-ceo-on-ipo-day-we-do-not-incentivize-for-less-pay-for-freelancers.html">October 2018</a>, Upwork listed on the NASDAQ to raise approximately USD 187 million. In FY2023, Upwork generated USD 689 million in revenue (up 11% YoY). The company guided FY2024 revenue between USD 760 million to USD 780 million, representing 11.7% YoY growth at the midpoint. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) stood at USD 0.13 in FY2023, compared to a loss per share of USD 0.69 in FY2022.Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;The company recorded 868,000 active clients as of August 2024, with notable clients including Microsoft, Airbnb and NASDAQ, among others.In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33129">August 2024,</a> Upwork partnered with Beeline to&nbsp;integrate its talent pool into Beeline’s vendor management system (VMS), offering access to over 10,000 professionals across 125+ categories. Previously, in&nbsp;<a href="https://investors.upwork.com/news-releases/news-release-details/upwork-partners-catch-expand-freelancers-access-benefits">January 2022</a>, the company partnered with Catch to offer freelancers access to personal payroll and healthcare benefits.&nbsp;

Upwork

Platforms that provide expertise in specialized areas such as law and scientific research.

Platforms that provide expertise in writing, translation, and editing.

Platforms that provide marketing expertise across email, SEO, and social media marketing functions.

Platforms that offer expertise related to web, mobile and software development with freelance developers fluent across major programming languages.

Platforms that focus on offering expertise in design and creative functions such as photography, video editing, and animation.

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

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

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

Expertlead

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