Upwork Expands Market Reach with Acquisitions of Bubty and Ascen, Launching a New Stand-Alone Enterprise Business
Upwork, a leading platform linking businesses with freelancers, has announced two acquisitions aimed at expanding its enterprise-focused business, thereby increasing its market reach.
Based in San Francisco, the company has acquired Bubty, a workforce management platform, and entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ascen, a global compliance and Employer of Record (EOR) company, ahead of its second-quarter earnings call on August 6.
These two companies will be integrated into Upwork’s existing enterprise business to form a standalone entity under the Upwork umbrella. This move signifies Upwork’s entry into new territories within the corporate staffing market, as it will now cater to various contract types including agent of record, employer of record, and staff augmentation.
Upwork’s president and CEO, Hayden Brown, revealed that the timing was opportune for this expansion due to growing demand from existing enterprise customers seeking access to diverse talent pools.
Brown stated, “Existing providers often force a choice between flexibility and compliance, speed and scale, or digital tools versus robust enterprise solutions. With this new capability, we’re rejecting such compromises. We are delivering all the benefits our customers have been seeking, as they’ve expressed a clear preference for a unified solution.”
Upwork’s existing enterprise business contributes approximately $100 million to the company’s yearly revenue of $750 million. The decision to make this business a standalone entity stems from the distinct needs of enterprises regarding compliance and software integrations, which differ significantly from those of small and midsize businesses catered by Upwork’s primary business.
Isolating these entities facilitates better external branding and internal focus, according to Brown. In the process of building this new business, Upwork evaluated over 100 potential companies. The company found Bubty and Ascen not just for their individual offerings but also for their synergistic capabilities, having successfully piloted them both individually and together.
Brown further emphasized, “Through the power of these pilots, we witnessed the technology’s impact and the ease with which we could combine each offering with our existing one to create something innovative and unique in the market.”
Further details regarding the branding and complete offerings of this new standalone business will be revealed later this year.
