Fiverr, a site where freelancers can find work and businesses can hire them, has announced raising $60 million in funding that will be used to build out its community. Previously Fiverr’s hook was that all prices started at a $5 base. But now the company plans to eliminate the price minimum all together.
Square Peg Capital led this latest round of funding but they were not alone. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel and Qumra Capital also joined in significantly, bringing the total amount raised by Fiverr to $110 million to date.
Fiverr stated in a press release that the company’s goal for this newest funding is to attract the 97 percent of freelancers who still rely on word-of-mouth and local networks to find work. One way they plan to do this is by eliminating the $5 base price on all jobs.
The hope is this will appeal to freelancers by giving them more freedom to set their own prices.
But Fiver is not stopping at just eliminating the $5 limit. The company is introducing new Gig packages, allowing freelancers to not only set their own prices but also bundle services.
Fiverr claims its new Gig packages will offer several tiers aimed at making agreements clear with fair and straightforward pricing. The packages are standardized to eliminate the need to negotiate with buyers over the terms of service and to make the whole process easy-to-understand for both buyers and sellers.
Fiverr will be rolling out Gig packages across markets gradually to make sure packages fit each category. To start, the company says it will launch Gig packages for the Graphics & Design, Writing & Translation and Music & Audio subcategories.
So, it may take some time before you see a Gig package in your particular market. Fiverr plans to continue adding packages throughout 2016. You can sign up for notifications on what new package offers are coming to each market.
Image: Fiverr
I wonder what the new website will be called. Surely it cannot remain Fiverr.
Hi Tabby,
This is exciting news! I just recently signed on with Fiverr.com as a writer and knowing that I’ll be able to bundle my services is great for business.
Thank you,
Sonya
Aira Bongco
That sucks. I think most people like it because of the $5 limit. But if this will be eliminated, then it prices will surely rise and it will just be a normal freelancing website, don’t you think?
It’s too bad they’re losing the $5 limit. That was their “thing” that made them unique and identifiable in the space. Maybe I’m a bit old school, but I feel like it’s the typical VC-money mistake of taking something that works and killing it by pushing it too hard.
Dina Eisenberg
Fiverr has lofty goals to be the EBay of outsourcing so this move them closer.
Where Fiverr should focus is on is increasing buyer education & experience. Adding more flexibility for reelancers doesn’t help if buyers find the platform unreliable. I’m talking the Amazon lawsuit.
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I have seen top websites ranking is not good but they are very smart & passionate making money in 7 figures.. They are able to answer many Google queries that users are looking for. So your aim should be like that your website or blog is able to answer users query, it should solve their purpose.