Inability to scale is the culprit behind the pending demise of New York-based freelance talent search platform Solvate. In a note to users of Solvate, the five-year-old startup said it could not scale up the business “in its current configuration,” though it did not provide any details. The company had raised some $6.3 million since its inception including $4 million in a Series B round one year ago that included backers RRE Ventures and DFJ Gotham Ventures.
Frank Denbow, founder of New York’s Startup Threads, says he used Solvate to find artists to work with his company, which provides merchandising services to other startups. “I’m in the middle of a few projects now on Solvate and its frustrating that I have to move things off of the platform with such short notice,” he says via e-mail. Denbow is also a local organizer for Startup Weekend NYC.
Solvate did not respond to requests for comment, but based on its plans one year ago, the company was trying to bulk up its platform for connecting freelance talent with companies that sought their skills.
With Solvate’s shut down just one week away, the stage is set for others to consume its slice of the freelance search market. Denbow says in addition to Solvate he has used Dribble in Salem, Mass. and 500 Startups graduate Zerply in Mountain View, CA. to find talent. While he plans to tap these and other resources to find freelancers, he says he’ll miss Solvate’s simplified platform. “It was nice to have great talented people lined up in one place with rates and availability in one system,” he says.
