that could expand its market reach.
The San Francisco-based company also announced it has acquired Bubty, a workforce management platform, and has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ascen, a global compliance EOR (employer of record) company, ahead of its second-quarter earnings call held on August 6.
Upwork wants to integrate these two companies into its existing enterprise business in order to create a stand-alone entity under the Upwork umbrella.
The move is also significant because it will allow Upwork to offer acces to talent beyond the independent contractor workforce Upwork is known for. This offers the platform the ability to essentially enable the company to compete in new areas of the corporate staffing market. The new entity will also support contract types, including agent of record, employer, and staff augmentation.
Upwork president and CEO Hayden Brown reported for TechCrunch that the timing was right to launch this new enterprise-focused business because Upwork’s existing enterprise customers have also been increasingly asking for access to these talent pools.
“Most of the providers that exist today force their customers to choose between flexibility and compliance, or speed and scale, or having a digital tool versus having something that’s actually robust and for the enterprise,” Brown said. “And with this new capability, we’re refusing to compromise. We’re giving our customers all of the benefits they’ve been looking for, and we’ve heard loud and clear that they want this singular solution.”
More so, Brown also said that Upwork’s existing enterprise business makes up for about $100 million of the company’s overall $750 million in yearly revenue.
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Another decision that Upwork made was the fact that they decided to make the enterprise business a stand-alone entity because enterprises have very different needs regarding compliance and software integrations than small and midsize businesses, which Upwork’s main business works with.
“We saw through the power of those pilots how impactful their technology was and how easy it was to basically snap together what each of them offers, along with our existing offering to deliver something very new and innovative in the market,” Brown said.
Later this year, more details regarding the branding and the new stand-alone business are set to be released.
Upwork president and CEO Hayden Brown reported for TechCrunch that the timing was right to launch this new enterprise-focused business because Upwork’s existing enterprise customers have also been increasingly asking for access to these talent pools.
“Most of the providers that exist today force their customers to choose between flexibility and compliance, or speed and scale, or having a digital tool versus having something that’s actually robust and for the enterprise,” Brown said. “And with this new capability, we’re refusing to compromise. We’re giving our customers all of the benefits they’ve been looking for, and we’ve heard loud and clear that they want this singular solution.”
More so, Brown also said that Upwork’s existing enterprise business makes up for about $100 million of the company’s overall $750 million in yearly revenue.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Another decision that Upwork made was the fact that they decided to make the enterprise business a stand-alone entity because enterprises have very different needs regarding compliance and software integrations than small and midsize businesses, which Upwork’s main business works with.
“We saw through the power of those pilots how impactful their technology was and how easy it was to basically snap together what each of them offers, along with our existing offering to deliver something very new and innovative in the market,” Brown said.
Later this year, more details regarding the branding and the new stand-alone business are set to be released.
