Collective, a financial management platform designed specifically for freelancers, recently secured $50 million in a funding round led by prominent investors such as Gradient Ventures and Innovius Capital. This funding round brings the total amount raised by Collective to an impressive $82 million. The investment will be utilized to further develop the platform’s products and scale its operations. As a result, Collective aims to increase its current employee count of 200 by approximately 30% before next June.
According to Hooman Radfar, the co-founder and CEO of Collective, the self-employed market experiences significant growth during economic downturns, as observed in the 2008 recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and recent challenges faced by the tech sector. Radfar believes that this investment round highlights his company’s strong positioning and growth trajectory.
Collective, founded by Ugur Kaner, Bugra Akcay, and Hooman Radfar, offers an all-in-one, online back office for freelancers, providing a range of services including bookkeeping, payroll, and tax advice. Radfar’s personal background as the child of immigrants inspired him to create Collective. Through the platform, freelancers can access services typically associated with enterprise-level finance departments, all within an easy-to-use platform.
Using artificial intelligence (specifically OpenAI’s GPT-4), Collective streamlines processes such as categorizing expenses and bank reconciliation. Additionally, the platform offers tools for executing payroll, filing taxes, and tracking monthly expenses and deductions. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the need for freelancers to utilize separate tools for different financial tasks, addressing one of the most challenging and time-consuming aspects of freelancing.
Managing finances, including invoicing, expense tracking, and tax payments, poses a significant challenge for 18% of freelancers, according to a poll. Collective aims to alleviate this burden by providing a centralized platform that streamlines financial management processes.
Collective currently serves thousands of members across the United States and boasts eight-figure annual recurring revenue. With a waitlist of over 100,000, the company has plans to collaborate with major tech players like Google and Meta, providing membership to its services as a benefit to contractors.
While there are competitors in the market, such as Wingspan and Beam, which offer payment platforms and contractor tools respectively, Radfar believes there is ample opportunity for growth within the freelancer financial services market. With 39% of the U.S. workforce participating in freelance work, a number projected to increase to over 50% by 2027, Radfar sees hyperlocal accountants and service providers as the main competitors rather than DIY tools.
Darian Shirazi from Gradient Ventures emphasizes the significance of language models in scaling operationally-intensive processes more efficiently. Collective utilizes AI to disrupt the tax and accounting market, leveraging its complex workflows and proprietary data.
Overall, Collective’s recent funding round enhances its position as a leading financial management platform for freelancers. By providing comprehensive services and leveraging AI technology, the platform aims to alleviate the financial burdens faced by self-employed individuals, allowing them to focus on delivering exceptional services to their clients.
