Workana

About Workana

Workana operates as a prominent freelancer marketplace with a strong focus on Latin America, connecting businesses with a diverse pool of independent professionals. Founded in 2012 by Argentine entrepreneurs Tomás O’Farrell, Guillermo Bracciaforte, Fernando Fornales, and Mariano Iglesias, the company emerged from the founders' conviction about the rising importance of remote work. O'Farrell's personal positive experience hiring a freelancer for a family project revealed a market gap for a similar platform tailored to the Latin American region. This insight, shared with his partners, led to the rapid launch of the Workana platform.

The business serves as an intermediary, enabling clients to post projects and hire talent across various fields such as IT and programming, design and multimedia, marketing, and administrative support. Freelancers, in turn, can create profiles, showcase their skills, and bid on projects that match their expertise. The platform's business model is centered on commissions taken from projects successfully completed through the site. Workana offers different membership plans for freelancers, providing varying levels of benefits like the number of weekly proposals they can send. To ensure payment security, the platform holds the client's funds in escrow, releasing them to the freelancer upon satisfactory completion of the project. This escrow system provides a secure transaction environment for both parties.

Since its inception in Buenos Aires, Workana has achieved significant milestones, expanding its operations to Brazil in 2013, which quickly became its largest user base. By 2014, it had registered over 10,000 freelancers and hosted more than 30,000 projects. A pivotal moment came in 2015 when Workana, alongside major tech companies like Google and Facebook, co-founded the Latin American Internet Association. The company has secured substantial funding over the years, including a notable investment from SEEK, an Australian multinational, to fuel its growth. This financial backing facilitated its expansion into the Asian market. The platform incorporates a ranking system for freelancers based on factors like qualifications, client satisfaction, and response rates, and offers different tiers to distinguish experienced professionals.