Stoke Talent is an all-in-one solution that provides companies with a platform to onboard and pay freelancers while also tracking budgets for projects and more. Fiverr said it was making the acquisition because it wanted to provide more tools to larger businesses. Also: Upwork vs. Fiverr: Which freelance job site is best? Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman said the move “supports Fiverr’s move upmarket” and would allow the company to engage with a new set of customers. “It gives Fiverr access to the offline freelancing market that is still orders of magnitude larger than online freelancing; and finally, Stoke is a fast-growing best-in-class product with an incredible team behind it that we are delighted to add to our family.” The companies said Stoke Talent will still operate its current offerings independently but that Stoke Talent’s freelance management platform would be integrated with Fiverr Business and other parts of its suite of B2B products. Shahar Erez and Hilik Paz founded Stoke Talent because they wanted to give businesses a way to build out a roster of online and offline talent. The tool lets businesses track the progress of projects and offers a slate of features for tax, legal and workforce classification compliance. The company is based in Tel Aviv and has about 30 full-time employees. Erez said the acquisition was an opportunity to continue doing what Stoke Talent was already doing but on a much larger scale. “We share Fiverr’s vision that freelance talent can help propel companies to new heights, both from a productivity and agility standpoint. Together with Fiverr, we have the ability to build an ecosystem where businesses can implement a multi-channel freelancer strategy and provide tools for them to efficiently manage not only freelancer engagement on Fiverr’s marketplace but those off Fiverr’s marketplace as well,” Erez said. “There are meaningful synergies between the two companies, and we’re excited for what the future holds.”
