Afternoon Coffee: Upwork Files for IPO, Ivalua Announces Platform Release 160

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Upwork, the global online freelancer marketplace and managed solution business (Upwork Enterprise), has filed a Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering. The company, which recently appeared as a recommended vendor in the Independent Contract Worker (ICW) SolutionMap, indicated it would be looking to net $100 million through the IPO transaction.

According to the company, the online marketplace consists of 375,000 registered freelancers and 475,000 client businesses in more than 180 countries, with fiscal year 2017 gross payment volume (GPV) of nearly $1.4 billion, up 19% over the prior year. Upwork disclosed that in 2016 and 2017, a total revenue of $202.6 million in 2017, up 23% over the prior year.

The company, which has been investing heavily sales and marketing, research and development, operations, and personnel (both in the marketplace and Upwork Enterprise), reported a net income loss of $4.1 million in 2017, an improvement of over minus $16.2 million in 2001. In the second half of 2017, Upwork reported a positive net income of $1.4 million and an adjusted EBITDA $7.9 million.

“Upwork’s move is a very significant marker in the ongoing evolution of the contingent workforce and services industry,” said Andrew Karpie, research director for services and labor procurement at Spend Matters. “When you have the Coupa acquisition of DCR Workforce and this IPO announcement in the span of a week — not to mention Beeline’s acquisition by New Market Capital a month ago and ADP’s acquisition of WorkMarket earlier this year — you know the heat is being turned up in this space. I think we’re well into the transition phase from innovative to mainstream in this segment that just came up on the radar of contingent workforce and services procurement six years ago.”

Ivalua Update 

Suite provider Ivalua announced Thursday the general availability of its Platform Release 160, which offers updates across the source-to-pay process, with an emphasis on direct materials sourcing and procurement, contract management and procure-to-pay, according to a press release. Highlights include an expanded e-invoicing solution that improves global compatibility, bill of materials management capabilities and new features to support supply chain forecasting collaboration.

“This release shows the breadth and depth of our innovation across the source-to-pay process,” said David Khuat-Duy, Ivalua Corporate CEO. “With these new capabilities, Ivalua extends the strength of our natively integrated, complete procurement platform, which empowers procurement leaders to transform their departments to best-in-class and beyond and build a true competitive advantage for their business.”

Walmart Crowdsources Delivery

Walmart is jumping into the world of crowdsourcing with the launch of its Spark Delivery program, VentureBeat reports. The new service crowdsources independent drivers to fulfill the last-mile delivery process. Walmart is collaborating with Delivery Drivers Inc. (DDI) to manage contract driver recruitment, screening, payments and more.

Worker Productivity 

And finally, an economic update: U.S. worker productivity got a boost in spring, rising at its best quarterly pace in three years, The Wall Street Journal reports. The productivity of nonfarm workers increased at an annualized and seasonally adjusted rate of 2.9% in the second quarter from the prior three months, the Labor Department said Thursday.