E
Elance
eCommerce & Marketplaces · Mountain View, United States · Founded 1998
Where the world's top talent works MoreLess
Elance, now part of Upwork, operates as an online marketplace that connects businesses with freelancers across various fields such as web development, mobile software development, design, creative writing, sales, marketing, admin support, customer service, data science, analytics, engineering, and architecture. The platform serves a wide range of clients, from small startups to large enterprises, providing them with access to a global pool of talent. Elance operates in the gig economy market, where businesses seek flexible, on-demand workforce solutions.
The business model is based on a commission structure, where Elance takes a percentage of the transaction between the client and the freelancer. Clients can choose to pay freelancers on an hourly basis or a fixed-price basis, with the platform handling invoicing and payment processing. Elance also offers enterprise solutions for larger companies, including pre-vetted talent and compliance services.
Elance makes money by charging service fees to freelancers and clients, as well as offering premium memberships and additional services such as payroll management and project management tools. The platform facilitates easy collaboration through chat, video calls, file sharing, and project milestone tracking, making it a comprehensive solution for remote work.
Keywords: Freelancers, Marketplace, Gig Economy, Web Development, Mobile Development, Design, Creative Writing, Data Science, Engineering, Collaboration Tools.
Company overview
Elance company information
The essential company record, classifications and operating signals in one place.
- Status
- Operational
- Founded
- 1998
- Headquarters
- Mountain View, United States
- Employees
- 1,261
- Open positions
- None listed
- Dealroom signal
- 61.3
Valuation & funding
Elance funding history
Company financing events and reported valuations.
| Deal type | Date | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MERGEROther financing | Nov 2014 | $0 | — | Upwork | — |
| LATE VCOther financing | Nov 2014 | $30M | $120M | Benchmark · Stripes · NEA | — |
| LATE VCOther financing | Jan 2012 | $16M | $64M | Kleiner Perkins · NEA · Stripes | — |
| EARLY VCOther financing | Jul 2004 | $10M | $40M | NEA · Kleiner Perkins | — |
| EARLY VCOther financing | Apr 2003 | $6.8M | $27M | Kleiner Perkins · NEA | — |
| SERIES BOther financing | Sep 2000 | Kleiner Perkins · Citi | — | ||
| SERIES AOther financing | Feb 2000 | Kleiner Perkins | — |
Growth signals
Elance website traffic
Latest recorded traffic for Elance is 4.2K monthly website visits, up 50% over the last three months. Elance's team declined 10.2% over the past year.
Comparisons
Elance compared with similar companies
Dealroom’s weighted taxonomy model identifies the closest operating peers. Company identity and context stay open; selected comparison metrics preview what is available in the platform.
Talent graph
Elance's talent
Source: Dealroom Talent Intelligence.
Global footprint
Where Elance has talent and traffic
team presence
In the news
Latest news about Elance
Recent press, funding announcements, and product moves mentioning Elance — open to read from the original sources.
Market sentiment
What the market is saying about Elance
An AI-synthesized read of the highest-engagement posts about Elance on X over the past 7 days. We rank by likes & retweets, ignore corporate channels, and surface the themes that broke out from real people.
Reading the room on X — pulling top posts and synthesizing themes…
Source: X recent search ranked by engagement (likes + retweets) · Synthesis by Claude · Cached for 1 hour
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