Fiverr Acquires Creative Talent Site Working Not Working

Fiverr is buying high-end talent platform Working Not Working in a bid to reach a new caliber of creative professionals. The freelance hiring site said the acquisition will help it make inroads into the advertising and marketing industries and cater to high-salaried creatives, in addition to the generally lower-cost gig work available on its own marketplace. Working Not Working will remain a standalone company with co-founders Justin Gignac and Adam Tompkins staying on as CEO and chief creative officer respectively. A Fiverr spokesperson declined to reveal the financial terms of the sale. Since its founding nearly a decade ago, Working Not Working has made a name for itself within the industry by connecting its database of tens of thousands of vetted creatives with full-time, part-time and freelance jobs at workplaces ranging from Droga5 and Wieden+Kennedy to Google and Netflix. The company operates on a tiered subscription model for the employer side and counts around 6,000 companies as customers. “We believe that the jobs of the future will be creative jobs,” Gignac said in a statement. “With Fiverr’s technology and powerful insight into building a global platform, Working Not Working and our community can be at the center of that future. No matter how the creative industry shifts, talent will always be the constant." Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman said the acquisition will help the Israeli company better understand the advertising and marketing services demands of major companies subscribed to the Working Not Working platform. "This acquisition deepens our penetration into the top tier of creative talent, while and at the same time gives us further insight into the creative and marketing needs of these big brands and agencies," Kaufman said in an email. "Having the Working Not Working team on board, with their strong expertise in the creative and advertising sector, allows us to advance our efforts in this area and continue our strategic move upmarket towards higher end digital services." The deal is part of a broader strategy on Fiverr's part to attract more large corporate clients in addition to the smaller companies and entrepreneurs that make up its primary customer base. To that end, the company also rolled out a subscription feature this week that allows bigger companies to pay for a defined set of tasks on a recurring basis. “Fiverr has long been a place that small businesses and entrepreneurs come to in order to find the services they need quickly, efficiently and affordably. That is not going to change," Kaufman said. "However, we see a huge opportunity in creating products and services that appeal to larger businesses, brands and agencies. Over the past several years, we’ve expanded our offerings immensely to ensure we are meeting the needs of today’s larger companies." Fiverr's growth has surged in recent months as the Covid-19 pandemic has led to mass layoffs. The company announced revenue of $52.3 million in its most recently reported financial quarter last fall, up 88% from the same period the year before. The brand attempted to capitalize on that momentum this week with its first-ever Super Bowl spot, which advertised how freelancers can help small businesses.