Freelancer reports record revenue and leap in user numbers

ASX-listed company behind Freelancer.com and Escrow.com is at 'inflection point in terms of profitability'

ASX-listed Freelancer Limited – the Australian company behind online services marketplace Freelancer.com and payments business Escrow.com – has announced a record net revenue of $26.2 million for the first half of 2016, up 56 per cent on the same period in 2015.

More than 2 million users have registered on Freelancer.com so far this year, and yesterday the site hit 20 million total users. The number of jobs posted to the site – which currently includes one commissioned by NASA to design an arm for a spacewalking robot aboard the International Space Station – totals more than 9 million as of last month, with 1.4 million posted this year alone.

Commenting on the company’s 1H16 results this morning, CEO Matt Barrie said: “Our mission statement is to change lives and were pleased to have changed millions of freelancers lives around the world as we present them with the opportunity to generate income in technical jobs, which may not be available to them locally, through use of our marketplace and a laptop computer or desktop.

“Freelancer’s growth is accelerating and it is at an inflection point in terms of profitability.”

The company made a gross profit of $22.7 million in the 1H16 period, a 54 per cent increase on 1H15.

In its outlook statement for the full year, the company said Freelancer.com’s business was acyclical and it was the global financial crisis that led to its emergence as employers looked to hire freelancers online rather than employ full-time staff and workers looked to the internet to find new sources of employment.

Barrie said the company had a “unique exposure to a deflationary environment” and that more than 95 per cent of the company’s revenue was sourced from outside Australia.

The company reported that it continued to provide unique exposure to “software and mobile eating the world”, the “on-demand and crowd-sourced economy”, increasing internet penetration in emerging markets and the “rising sophistication of emerging markets labour”.

Transactions totalling US$3 billion have been made via online payment intermediary Escrow.com, which the company acquired last year. The business is currently migrating Escrow.com’s technical stack away from legacy co-location infrastructure to Amazon's public cloud and will soon be deploying a rebuilt accounting system. It has recently launched a new public-facing website and redeveloped its automated API interface for its partners.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.

Tags ASXfinancial resultsFreelancer.comFreelancer.com CEOMatt Barriegig economy

More about Freelancer.comNASA

Show Comments
[]