Freelancer Manager Work Market Takes In $20 Million

Work Market, a maker of software meant to help employers manage freelancers, secured $20 million more from its existing investors Wednesday, a week after announcing a new chief executive officer.

The software-as-a-service company plans to use the funding for R&D and its go-to-market capabilities, Stephen DeWitt, who was named CEO Jan. 13, in a statement. Jeffery Leventhal, the CEO when he and Jeff Wald founded New York-based Work Market in 2010, is still a board member.

Work Market’s software aids companies in finding freelancers and independent contractors, as well as managing and paying them, too. The company is banking on an estimation that there is rising demand for freelance work. Freelancers should make up more than 40 percent of the workforce by 2020, according to research firm Intuit.

DeWitt was previously an executive at firms such as Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems and Symantec, according to a statement. He was also the CEO of Cobalt Networks, which was eventually acquired by Sun Microsystems.

Another New York-based SaaS marketplace, SpareHire, which connects employers with finance and consulting professionals, received $750,000 in funding in October.

Union Square Ventures led the round for Work Market, and was joined by previous investors Spark Capital and SoftBank Capital. Industry Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank also invested. Work Market has received at least $10 million in previous rounds.

Author: David Holley

David is the national correspondent at Xconomy. He has spent most of his career covering business of every kind, from breweries in Oregon to investment banks in New York. A native of the Pacific Northwest, David started his career reporting at weekly and daily newspapers, covering murder trials, city council meetings, the expanding startup tech industry in the region, and everything between. He left the West Coast to pursue business journalism in New York, first writing about biotech and then private equity at The Deal. After a stint at Bloomberg News writing about high-yield bonds and leveraged loans, David relocated from New York to Austin, TX. He graduated from Portland State University.