The work marketplace’s gross service volume (GSV) from AI-skilled talent increased 55% year over year to $112 million in the third quarter, Brown said.
“As clients put AI to work, they’re increasingly turning to Upwork for the expertise to implement it, integrate it into their operations and get more value from AI,” Brown said.
To support an emerging model in which people and AI collaborate, Upwork developed a new feature that connects any AI agent or client with Upwork freelancers who are online and ready to start work immediately. The company launched this feature, Upwork Now, in public beta Monday, Brown said.
The launch of Upwork Now follows the August debut of Upwork’s MCP server, which enables AI agents, clients and talent to tap into the company’s marketplace without leaving their AI tool, such as Claude or ChatGPT, Brown said. The MCP server’s number of weekly average users has increased by 20 times since its launch in August, according to an investor presentation released Monday.
“Customers can now access the human expert they need, the moment they need them, within Upwork or from within their own AI tools,” Brown said. “In early testing and release, customer feedback has been enthusiastic about the ease, speed and value of our MCP and Upwork Now.”
Upwork also announced Monday that its enterprise subsidiary, Lifted, acquired Berlin-based, tech-enabled employer of record (EOR) WorkMotion. Lifted said in a Monday announcement that this will expand direct employment options for its clients to more than 30 countries.
Brown said during the earnings call that Lifted’s direct employment/EOR offering is seeing strong uptake in the United States and Canada, that the company has always planned to provide a solution for employment in every market, and that the acquisition of WorkMotion “dramatically accelerates” the company’s roadmap.
“Lifted’s growth strategy was already delivering results, and adding WorkMotion to the portfolio allows us to further improve win rates and lower Lifted’s cost-to-serve,” Brown said.
Upwork continued its shift toward higher-value work and larger clients during the third quarter, Brown said. The firm’s GSV per active client increased 8% year over year to $5,418, while its GSV declined 10% to $914.1 million, according to a Monday press release outlining its third quarter financial results.
“We have built a strong, durable profitability engine, which will be critical to our ongoing value creation in 2027 and beyond,” Brown said.
