Workee raises $600K pre-seed to help freelancers manage their online business

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The funding round led by Lighthouse Ventures will support the expansion of the productivity tool for managing business online among appointment-based freelancers, providing a unique offering of front- and back-end management support. 

Workee, the back office SaaS provider for appointment-based professionals, today announced a funding round of $600K to grow its user base in the U.S. and beyond. The round included notable tech investor Ihar Mahaniok, former engineering lead for Google, Facebook, and WeWork.

Workee story:

  • started in May 2020 from the personal pain of my mom who lose a job in the hospital because of the pandemic
  • November 2021 – set-up a team and started development
  • March 2021 – Beta-launch with 200 professionals on board
  • Summer 2021 –  Winner of Ukrainian National Startup Competition
  • Summer 2021 – Joined Startup Wise Guys Acceleration Program
  • December 2021 – 1,100 active users
  • January 2021 – Raised $600,000 Pre-Seed Round

Workee helps freelancers like coaches, health experts, consultants, tutors, and lawyers, to manage their client appointments, accounting, invoices, clients, and workflow in one place. The no-code software enables professionals to create their personal brand website automatically, without any coding experience, and then to efficiently connect the website to their back-office management through Workee platform.

There are an estimated 1,2 billion freelancers around the world – nearly 1/3 of the total global workforce. Freelancing is on the rise, along with remote work, growing three times faster than the traditional workforce.

Workee meetings

Companies increasingly rely on freelancers as essential contributors to their operations. 59 million Americans reported having freelanced amid the Covid-19 pandemic, contributing $1.2 trillion to the U.S. economy. The growth of the freelance workforce is three times faster than the traditional workforce.

As the gig economy is booming worldwide, business management platforms are raising large funds. The Workee team has an impressive ability to execute, showing high commitment and pace in building an essential product for a growing industry.

said Michal Zalesak, Managing Partner of the lead investor Lighthouse Ventures.
Workee form-settings

Other investors in the round include BRISE Capital, Startup Wise Guys, and Ihar Mahaniok, founder of Geek Ventures. Workee’s array of advisers includes technology executive Andrew Bourne, known to lead high-performing teams to success, having launched and commercialized over 50 SaaS products.

Industry competitors, like HoneyBook and Dubsado, focus on specific aspects of small business, like client management, while Workee’s unique offering is built on combining a variety of priority features to facilitate freelance workflow.

Workee automates website building with full customization, booking and scheduling appointments, issuing invoices, accepting payments, and tax management. The software enables freelancers to work directly with their clients through a simple interface while saving on marketplace fees.

The funding will be used to continue the company’s growth in the U.S. freelance market. Since launching its beta in 2021, the Workee platform has seen over 3000 sign-ups. In 2022, the company is planning to triple its team to support the rapid growth of the platform’s active user base to over 50,000.

We aim to establish our presence as the default back-office software to make working online easy. To deliver the simplest way to run a freelance business online, we design sophisticated systems that focus on functionality and connectivity with other external tools for optimization of workflows and promotion to reach larger audiences

said Workee CEO Ihor Bauman.
Ihor Bauman - Workee CEO & Co-Founder; Artem Kanaki - Workee CTO & Co-Founder; Yevhen Kyselov - Workee Creative Lead & Co-Founder
Ihor Bauman – Workee CEO & Co-Founder; Artem Kanaki – Workee CTO & Co-Founder; Yevhen Kyselov – Workee Creative Lead & Co-Founder