The Upwork Mafia
Upwork was founded in 2015 through the merger of two pioneering freelance platforms, Elance and oDesk. Elance, founded in 1999 by Beerud Sheth and Srini Anumolu, and oDesk, founded in 2003 by Odysseas Tsatalos and Stratis Karamanlakis, both aimed to connect businesses with freelance talent.
The merger combined their strengths to create a more powerful marketplace, rebranded as Upwork. Since its launch, Upwork has introduced innovative tools to facilitate collaboration between freelancers and clients, becoming one of the largest freelancing platforms globally.
In January 2020, Hayden Brown became Upwork's CEO. Under her leadership, the company has expanded its offerings and solidified its role as a key player in the gig economy, focusing on empowering freelancers and businesses in a rapidly changing work environment.
The Upwork Mafia
The Upwork Mafia has founded 84 companies and raised $390M.
PS: Are you an Upwork Tech Mafia member interested in bringing your community together to invest in innovative ventures (and enjoy potential profits and other perks along the way)? Or perhaps you're part of another dynamic group that could be a fantastic source of startup investments?
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List of all the amazing companies covered
Globespan Capital Partners
Founder: Andy Goldfarb
Upwork Role: Investor
Capital Raised: $662.8M
Investors: —
Stage: Debt, Early Stage Venture, Late Stage Venture, Private Equity
Globespan Capital Partners is a California-based venture capital firm that finances startups in the IT industry.
GupShup
Founder: Beerud Sheth
Upwork Role: Founder & VP
Capital Raised: $484.1M
Investors: CRV
Stage: Private Equity
GupShup develops a conversational messaging platform designed to automate business conversations.
Wonder Workshop
Founder: Imran Khan
Upwork Role: Director Marketing
Capital Raised: $80.8M
Investors: CRV
Stage: Venture - Series Unknown
Wonder Workshop provides a platform that makes programming fun and accessible for children while they play.
Abacus.AI
Founder: Bindu Reddy
Upwork Role: Director of Product Management
Capital Raised: $90.3M
Investors: Index Ventures
Stage: Series C
Abacus.AI is the world's first AI-assisted data science and end-to-end MLOps platform.
Wonder Workshop
Founder: Imran Khan
Upwork Role: Director Marketing
Capital Raised: $80.8M
Investors: CRV
Stage: Venture - Series Unknown
Wonder Workshop provides a platform that makes programming fun and accessible for children while they play.
InsightSquared
Founder: Samuel Clemens
Upwork Role: Director of Product Marketing
Capital Raised: $50M
Investors: Two Sigma Ventures
Stage: Series D
InsightSquared is a revenue intelligence platform that provides sales intelligence solutions for forecasting, accuracy, and decision-making.
Ergeon
Founder: Odysseas Tsatalos
Upwork Role: Founder and CTO
Capital Raised: $40M
Investors: FJ Labs
Stage: Series B
Ergeon uses proprietary technology coupled with operational excellence to build a large, customer-friendly construction company.
PipeDreams
Founder: Paul Hsiao
Upwork Role: Board Member
Capital Raised: $35.7M
Investors: FJ Labs
Stage: Series A
PipeDreams is the next gen, tech-powered home services provider.
Rev
Founder: David Abrameto, Jason Chicola, Josh Breinlinger
Upwork Role: Marketing Manager Intern, Director of Marketing & Sales, Founding Team
Capital Raised: $30.4M
Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners
Stage: Series D
Rev is the world’s most accurate speech technology provider.
Azra Games
Founder: Travis Boudreaux
Upwork Role: Sr. Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $25M
Investors: Andreessen Horowitz
Stage: Seed
Azra Games is a blockchain-based developer of collectible and combat games.
OpenNode
Founder: João Almeida
Upwork Role: Freelancer
Capital Raised: $21.3M
Investors: Kingsway Capital
Stage: Series A
OpenNode offers accessible way for e-commerce businesses to process bitcoin payments.
Dreamdata
Founder: Steffen Hedebrandt
Upwork Role: Country Manager, Nordics
Capital Raised: $12.2M
Investors: Signals Venture Capital
Stage: Series A
Dreamdata is a B2B revenue automation platform. They’ll help you repeat success and stop wasting money.
Welcome Pickups
Founder: Alexandros (Alex) Trimis
Upwork Role: Product Manager
Capital Raised: $12.4M
Investors: VentureFriends
Stage: Venture - Series Unknown
Welcome is redefining the in-destination travel experience by making it easy, friendly, and personalized through a single touch point.
Boombotix
Founder: Chris McKleroy Jr.
Upwork Role: Account Manager
Capital Raised: $9.2M
Investors: Correlation Ventures
Stage: Series A
Boombotix markets portable and Bluetooth-enabled loudspeakers, mobile audio accessories and iOS audio mobile apps.
NakedPoppy
Founder: Jaleh Bisharat
Upwork Role: SVP Marketing
Capital Raised: $7.8M
Investors: Felicis
Stage: Venture - Series Unknown
NakedPoppy is a clean beauty company that curates better-for-you beauty brands and tailors them to you.
The Flex Co.
Founder: Lauren Wang
Upwork Role: Director of Marketing and Communications
Capital Raised: $7.7M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Venture - Series Unknown
The Flex Co. is the top-selling sustainable period care brand known for creating a more comfortable period for everyone.
Arcol
Founder: Paul O'Carroll
Upwork Role: Unity C# Freelancer
Capital Raised: $5.1M
Investors: Cowboy Ventures
Stage: Seed
Arcol is a collaborative 3D building design and documentation tool that runs in your browser.
MinkasuPay
Founder: Anbu Gounder
Upwork Role: Head of Finance and Administration
Capital Raised: $5M
Investors: —
Stage: Angel
MinkasuPay is a mobile payment solution that uses the smartphone as an authentication device to make payments on any device and any channel.
Rush
Founder: Slav Stankov
Upwork Role: Sr Product Manager at Monetization
Capital Raised: $3M
Investors: LAUNCHub Ventures
Stage: Seed
Rush is Order Tracking & Notifier SaaS that increases store revenue and lower cost of support in post purchase cycle.
Manara
Founder: Iliana Montauk
Upwork Role: Senior Product Manager, Talent
Capital Raised: $3M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Pre-Seed
Identifying and vetting undiscovered talent. Thier mission is to accelerate the growth of the Arab tech sector by untapping its human potential.
LegalFly
Founder: Ruben Miessen
Upwork Role: Digital Designer & App Developer
Capital Raised: $2.16M
Investors: redalpine
Stage: Seed
LegalFly is a legal technology startup that automates legal services using artificial intelligence.
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