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10 Years in The Making: Fiverr

Fiverr officially launched on 1 February 2010. The idea behind the platform? Connect buyers to sellers from all over the world, sellers who would sell their services for the princely sum of $5. The Fiverr you see today isn’t the Fiverr 2010. As we celebrate Fiverr’s 10th anniversary, let’s take a brief look at the company’s history.

Fiverr’s Humble Beginnings

The domain fiverr.com was purchased from GoDaddy on December 9, 2009. By 22 January, the site was up-and-running, so to speak. At the time, only a handful of gigs were on offer, from an even smaller pool of sellers. These gigs ranged from tame gigs like photo retouching to peculiar gigs like listening to your confessions or having kids dressed in weird costumes shout your brand name. The look of the site is reminiscent of all sites circa 2010.

In January of 2010, there were only 3 pages of gigs to sort through but by the end of December 2010, that figure grew to 2193 pages. The platform was growing rapidly, adding hundreds of new users every day. 

The Very First Users

Many of that first pool of users like Grahm, Kylie, Shirley, and Ariel still have Fiverr accounts today, but they are by-and-large inactive. One of the only active accounts from this period is Fiverr’s very own CEO and co-founder, Micha Kaufman. In January of 2010, you could hire Micha to review your pitch for $5. You could also purchase a gig from Fiverr’s co-founder Shai Winingerfor $5.

Essentially, everything on the site was $5 because Fiverr’s $5 gig limit existed until 2015. But in 2015, and because of the major furor, freelancers were finally able to list gigs at higher prices. 

This happens to be one of Fiverr’s first shifts away from its original image to the brand and freelancer behemoth we know today.

Funding

But, Fiverr’s humble beginnings didn’t last long. In June of 2010, the first of many funding rounds began, and Fiverr received funding to the value of $1 million.

Where would Fiverr be without the startup funding it had at its inception? One can only guess. The initial seed funding of $1 million came from Guy Gamzu and Jonathan Kolber, both Angel investors. This seed investment coincides with Fiverr’s initial growth spike for the year. Jonathan and Guy would go on to fund until Series B contributing $19 million in funding alongside Bessemer Venture Partners. To date Fiverr has raised $111 million in funds and is now a public company.

Change of Branding

Fiverr’s original tagline was “sell. buy. have fun.” This is a stark contrast to its current tagline “don’t just dream, do.” Changing the tagline reflects Fiverr’s evolving philosophy. 

Fiverr wants to distance itself from its original image as a freelance marketplace where you could acquire any number of quirky and unusual gigs. Instead, opting to embrace the concept of a global marketplace of gigs designed to help lean entrepreneurs and startups.

Finding Success

Fiverr is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Its story resembles so many other tech startups, but what makes Fiverr different is that it happens to be one of the original gig economy marketplaces for a truly global audience. Depending on which side of the coin you’re on could either be a good or bad thing. 

 

Tags: Fiverr, Marketplace, News