Upwork

{{Infobox website

| name = Upwork Inc.

| logo = Upwork Logo.svg

| company_type = Public

| traded_as = {{NASDAQ|UPWK}}
Russell 2000 Index component

| predecessor = Elance-oDesk
Elance
oDesk

| founded = {{start date and age|1999}} (as Elance)
{{start date and age|2003}} (as oDesk)
{{start date and age|2013}} (as Elance-oDesk)
{{start date and age|2015}} (as Upwork)

| founder = Beerud Sheth
Srini Anumolu
Sanjay Noronha
Odysseas Tsatalos
Stratis Karamanlakis

| headquarters = Palo Alto, California, U.S.

| area_served = Worldwide

| key_people = Hayden Brown (CEO)
Thomas Layton (chairman)

| num_employees = 600 (2024){{Cite web |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1627475/000162747525000011/upwk-20241231.htm |title=2024 Annual Report |date=February 13, 2025 |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission}}

| revenue = {{Increase}} US$769 million (2024)

| net_income = {{Increase}} US$216 million (2024)

| assets = {{Increase}} US$1.21 billion (2024)

| equity = {{Increase}} US$575 million (2024)

| registration = Required

| url = {{Official URL}}

}}

Upwork Inc., formerly Elance-oDesk, is an American freelancing platform headquartered in Santa Clara and San Francisco, California.{{cite news|title=Elance-oDesk Becomes 'Upwork' In Push To Build $10B In Freelancer Revenues|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/elainepofeldt/2015/05/05/elance-odesk-becomes-upwork-today-odesk-brand-gets-phased-out/|access-date=5 May 2015|work=Forbes|date=5 May 2015}} The company was formed in 2013 as Elance-oDesk after the merger of Elance Inc. and oDesk Corp. The merged company was subsequently rebranded as Upwork in 2015.{{cite web |last=Lunden |first=Ingrid |title=Elance-oDesk Rebrands As Upwork, Debuts Slack-Like Chat Platform |website=TechCrunch |date=May 5, 2015 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/05/05/elance-odesk-rebrands-as-upwork-debuts-slack-like-chat-platform/ |access-date=May 17, 2016 }}

In March 2022, Upwork was named on Time{{'}}s list of TIME100 Most Influential Companies of 2022.{{cite magazine |last1=Van Houten |first1=Alison |title=TIME100 Most Influential Companies of 2022 - Upwork |url=https://time.com/collection/time100-companies-2022/6159444/upwork/ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |magazine=TIME |date=March 30, 2022}}

History

Elance was founded in 1998 by MIT graduate Beerud Sheth and Wall Street veteran Srini Anumolu in Jersey City.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} In December 1999, the company's 22 employees relocated to Sunnyvale, in California's Silicon Valley. Elance's first product was the Elance Small Business Marketplace.{{cite web |url=https://www.upwork.com/o/profiles/users/_~01f4d51ebb3662f716//downloads/dawn-elance-econ.pdf |title=The Dawn of the E-Lance Economy |author1=Thomas W. Malone |author2=Robert J. Laubacher |publisher=Harvard Business Review |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131175450/http://www.ecopywriters.com/downloads/dawn-elance-econ.pdf |archive-date=2012-01-31 |access-date=2010-12-25 }}

oDesk was founded in 2003 by two friends, Odysseas Tsatalos and Stratis Karamanlakis, who wanted to work together even though one of them was in the U.S. and the other was in Greece.{{cite web|url=http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/|title=California Secretary of State. Corporate filing date 1/27/2003|access-date=22 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315010639/http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/|archive-date=15 March 2015|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}{{Cite news|url=https://mixergy.com/interviews/gary-swart-odesk-interview/|title=The story behind launching oDesk - with Gary Swart - Mixergy|work=Mixergy|access-date=2017-07-28|publication-date=19 March 2014}} Originally created as a staffing firm, oDesk eventually became an online marketplace that allowed registered users to find, hire, and collaborate with remote workers.{{Cite web |title=Elance-oDesk unveils platform, name |url=https://www2.staffingindustry.com/Editorial/Daily-News/Elance-oDesk-unveils-platform-name-33959 |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=www2.staffingindustry.com |language=en-US}}

In 2009, a hacker breached Elance and obtained the personal details of more than 1.3 million registered users including names, addresses, passwords, and associated email account data.{{cite news|url=https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/elance-data-breach-hacker-leaks-1-3-million-accounts-staffing-platform-1605368|title=Elance data breach: Hacker leaks 1.3 million accounts from staffing platform|first=India|last=Ashok|work=International Business Times}}

Elance and oDesk announced their merger on December 18, 2013 to create Elance-oDesk.{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-18/elance-and-odesk-merge-to-form-bigger-service-for-freelancers.html | title=Elance Merges With oDesk to Boost Service for Freelancers | work=Bloomberg Technology | date=December 19, 2013 | access-date=January 18, 2014 | author=Levy, Ari | location=San Francisco}} In 2015, the new company was rebranded as Upwork, which coincided with an upgrade of the oDesk platform under the same name. The newly named Upwork also planned to phase out the Elance platform within a couple of years.{{cite web|title=oDesk becomes Upwork, but what about Elance?|url=http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/05/odesk-becomes-upwork-elance.html|access-date=6 May 2015|publisher=news.smallbusinesstrends.com|date=5 May 2015}}

The company was listed on the Inc. 5000 list from 2009 to 2014 and filed for an initial public offering on October 3, 2018.{{Cite news|date=2018-07-25|title=Upwork Just Made a Surprising Decision That Will Change Everything For Freelancers|work=Inc.com|url=https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/upwork-just-made-a-surprising-decision-that-will-change-everything-for-freelancers.html?cid=hmhero|access-date=2018-07-25}}{{Cite news|url=https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/initial-public-offering-upwork-prices-shares-at-15-2018-10-1027586877|title=Upwork — the largest freelancers' network — soars 50% in trading debut|last=Jiang|first=Ethel|date=3 October 2018|work=Markets Insider|access-date=3 October 2018}}

On March 7, 2022, Upwork started suspending operations for freelancers and clients in Russia and Belarus as a sanction following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.{{Cite web|url=https://www.upwork.com/blog/a-letter-from-our-ceo-march-2022|title=A Letter From Our CEO | Upwork}}

Service and business model

Businesses and individuals can connect through this platform to conduct business. Clients post a description of their job and a price range they are willing to pay for a freelancer to complete it. The client may invite specific freelancers to apply for their jobs, or post the job for any freelancer who is interested to apply. Once the client has chosen who they want to complete the job, they hire that freelancer by sending a contract with set hours, pay rate, and a deadline for the work to be completed.{{Cite web |title=How to use Upwork effectively to hire quality talent for business? |url=https://www.webdew.com/blog/how-to-use-upwork-effectively |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=webdew |language=en}} Freelancers are also required to purchase "connects" in order to be able to bid for jobs.{{Cite web|url=https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062898-Understanding-and-Using-Connects|title=Understanding and using Connects – Upwork Customer Service & Support | Upwork Help}}

Size, scope, and changes

In March 2017, Upwork reported 14 million users in 180 countries with $1 billion USD in annual freelancer billings.{{Cite press release|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/snagajob-appoints-former-upwork-ceo-to-board-of-directors-300417689.html|title=Snagajob Appoints Former Upwork CEO to Board of Directors|last=Snagajob|website=www.prnewswire.com|access-date=2017-07-28}}{{Cite web|url=https://techdayhq.com/community/articles/upwork-s-svp-of-marketing-explains-what-it-takes-to-perfect-an-offering-that-relies-on-people|title=TechDay - Upwork's SVP of Marketing Explains What It Takes To Perfect An Offering That Relies On People|website=techdayhq.com|access-date=2017-07-28}}

In 2020, the company purged 1.8 million freelancers.{{Cite web|title=Hayden Brown, Upwork Inc: Profile and Biography|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/20787511|access-date=2020-09-09|website=Bloomberg.com|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=1.8 million gig workers were purged from Upwork - here's why|url=https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/18-million-users-have-been-purged-from-gig-economy-site-upwork/|access-date=2024-06-26|website=businessofbusiness.com|date=March 20, 2020 |language=en}} In a 2019 call with investors Upwork CEO, Hayden Brown, said that Upwork would be focusing more on serving the needs of Fortune 500 companies rather than smaller companies just looking for a quick job with a single gig worker. Brown also spoke of a "skill gap" between what companies were looking for on the Upwork platform and what they were getting. Many of the freelancers purged were rated as "less skilled" or had lower rankings on the platform.{{cite web|last=Upwork.|website=investors.upwork.com|title=Q4 and Full Year 2019 Prepared Remarks|url=https://investors.upwork.com/static-files/e9603ba9-29b2-4461-b55b-1994e6e2b477}}

In October 2020, Upwork launched a new feature called "Project Catalog" that allows freelancers and agencies to offer pre-scoped services at fixed prices, similar to the Fiverr marketplace.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-27 |title=Introducing Project Catalog™ |url=https://www.upwork.com/blog/introducing-project-catalog-beta |access-date=2022-04-20 |website=Upwork}}