Fiverr Acquires AND CO To Equip Freelancers

Fiverr, the online marketplace that enables companies to hire freelancers, is acquiring AND CO, another startup that provides support tools for freelancers.

According to a report in TechCrunch, Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman said that once the deal is complete, Fiverr will offer AND CO’s online tools for free, with the goal of reaching more freelancers and building loyalty among those already using the marketplace. Fiverr is “raising more money and generating more capital, which allows us to take tools like [those] of AND CO and just make them free,” Kaufman told TechCrunch.

Although the software is free, Fiverr plans to continue to support it over the next few years and will continue to invest in it. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TechCrunch noted that AND CO has raised $2 million in seed funding, with Thrive Capital leading the round back in 2016.

AND CO will operate as a separate brand, with its entire staff joining the Fiverr team. “Having the opportunity to join the Fiverr team is an extension of AND CO’s original mission of enabling people to focus on the work they love most,” said AND CO co-founder and CEO Leif Abraham in the announcement.

Fiverr marketplace lists millions of gigs, across more than 100 categories and from over 200 nations worldwide. In a December interview with PYMNT’s Karen Webster, Fiverr’s global head of community, Brent Messenger, said that it is the largest marketplace on the planet for finding skilled freelance work. And while Fiverr is far from the only gig economy marketplace – or even the only marketplace for skilled workers – Messenger told Webster that the company does bring a unique outlook to the purchase and sale of skill services by treating them as products.