Freelance Platform Fiverr Posts 44 Pct Q1 Revenue Increase

Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic and staggering unemployment rates, Israel-based freelance platform Fiverr International posted big gains in the first quarter of 2020, with a 44 percent increase in revenue year over year to reach $34.2 million.

Founded in 2010 in Tel Aviv, Fiverr aims to change “how the world works together” by connecting freelancers looking for work with companies seeking people with particular skill sets. The platform could be particularly useful as stay-at-home mandates due to the pandemic continue across much of the world and full-time jobs disappear in a shaky economy.

“I am immensely proud of the team at Fiverr and what they have achieved in the first quarter, especially under the backdrop of a global pandemic that has impacted the world in the last few months,” Micha Kaufman, founder and CEO of Fiverr, said in a statement on Thursday (May 7).

He added that the company has developed coronavirus-related schemes to assist its community, such as Promoted Gigs, which help gig workers boost their business by increasing the commissions for top positioning of category listings in the marketplace. The firm also introduced “localization in Germany, Spain and France,” and continued to “power strong growth with agility and efficiency.”Kaufman pointed to the quarter’s robust Q1 results as a reflection of the “strength and resilience of our marketplace even in a challenging global environment.”

During Q1, Fiverr introduced more than 30 new categories to its platform and built out popular segments like online lessons and offline-to-online services.

Fiverr’s French website launched with localized user-generated content that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for translations on non-English websites. The company’s earnings from non-English-speaking countries were responsible for 32 percent of total revenue, up from roughly 30 percent last year.

“We are very happy with Q1 results with strong top-line growth, strong gross margin and significant improvement in EBITDA,” said Fiverr CFO Ofer Katz. He added that the company’s Q2 guidance is strong and that it changed its full-year 2020 outlook “upward from prior guidance.”

Fiverr’s platform had 2.5 million active buyers as of March 31, up from 2.1 million as of March 31 of last year, an increase of 17 percent year over year. The company expects to be profitable and have a positive EBITDA by the second half of next year.

Numerous industries have been slammed by the coronavirus and have reeled in revenue forecasts. The crisis has caused a swift slowdown in economic activity across the U.S. and the world.