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View All NewsOnline staffing platform Freelancer says revenue up 41%, buys payment firm
Freelancer Ltd., the operator of online staffing provider Freelancer.com, reported earlier this week that revenue rose 40.8% in the first half of 2015 to AUS$16.8 million (US$12.8 million) despite a loss for the period of AUS$1.3 million (US$983,000). The Australia-based company also announced the acquisition of an online payment platform.
(AUS$ thousands) | H1 2015 | H1 2014 | % growth | first half 2015 (USD 000s) |
Revenue | $16,757 | $11,903 | 40.8% | $12,828 |
Gross profit | $14,714 | $10,513 | 40.0% | $11,264 |
Gross margin | 87.8% | 88.3% | ||
Total comprehensive loss for the period | -$1,284 | -$751 | nm | -$983 |
Freelancer gained 1.8 million users in the first half for a total of more than 16 million.
The company acquired Escrow.com, a provider of secure online payments, in the US for a purchase price of US$7.5 million. The deal remains subject to regulatory approval; it is expected to close in the second half of the year. Escrow.com had gross payment volume of US$265 million in 2014 and net revenue of US$5 million
Freelancer also announced earlier this month that it partnered with NASA’s Center for Excellence for Collaborative Innovation to help crowdsource designs for tools to be used on the International Space Station by the Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot.
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“We are continuing to focus on the product, user experience, scalability and expanding the features of the marketplace offering,” CEO and Chairman Matt Barrie said. “We will also continue to focus on expanding the functionality and penetration of our platform across mobile devices, and will continue to expand across regional and multilingual markets, and further across job categories.”