By 2010, Elance and oDesk were already established online marketplaces where businesses could hire independent professionals for remote work. Their growth reflected broader changes in the economy: more work could be managed online, and more firms were willing to contract for specialized skills instead of hiring full-time.
On December 18, 2013, oDesk and Elance announced they had signed a definitive agreement to merge. They said the combined company would keep running two separate platforms at first while investing more in hiring tools and online collaboration features. The announcement also highlighted the scale of the combined networks and billings, signaling a push toward a larger, more centralized marketplace for remote freelance work.
In late March 2014, the two companies closed the merger and began operating as one organization (while still keeping the two brands). This step mattered because it enabled shared investment in matching systems and “trust and safety” processes that reduce fraud and improve hiring reliability. Integration also set the stage for migrating users toward a single marketplace later.
In 2014, the companies partnered with Freelancers Union to publish early “Freelancing in America” findings, helping popularize the idea that freelance work was a major part of the U.S. workforce. The study’s headline numbers were widely discussed and used in debates about independent work. It also positioned the merged company as a key data source and advocate in the growing freelance economy.
On November 25, 2014, Elance-oDesk announced $30 million in additional funding led by Benchmark. The company said the capital would support product investment and expansion into new markets. The round reinforced that major investors expected large-scale growth in online remote contracting.
On May 5, 2015, Elance-oDesk rebranded as Upwork, beginning the shift toward a single, unified marketplace identity. The change also came with platform upgrades aimed at faster hiring and better collaboration. Rebranding helped the company market itself as a mainstream way to manage remote professional work, not just a niche job board.
Alongside the Upwork name rollout, the company emphasized real-time communication tools (like built-in chat) to support day-to-day remote teamwork. This mattered because scaling freelancing is not only about finding talent; it also depends on managing projects, sharing files, and maintaining clear client–freelancer communication. These features helped make “remote contracting” feel more like an online workplace.
After rebranding, Upwork increasingly highlighted large-company use of the marketplace and its ability to support more formal hiring and management needs. This “enterprise” direction signaled an effort to move beyond small one-off gigs toward repeat business and larger contract volumes. It also reflected a broader trend: large organizations beginning to treat freelance talent as part of workforce planning.
By 2017, Upwork was regularly publishing reports on fast-growing freelance skills, using marketplace data to highlight which capabilities were in demand. This helped freelancers make decisions about training and specialization. It also showed how large platforms can shape labor markets by signaling which skills clients are buying.
On September 6, 2018, Upwork filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing process required the company to disclose key financial and business details and prepared it for public-market scrutiny. Going public would give Upwork more visibility and access to capital as it tried to scale the remote freelance marketplace model.
Upwork’s shares began trading on October 3, 2018 on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker “UPWK.” The IPO milestone helped validate large online freelance marketplaces as a durable business category. It also increased pressure to show steady growth in transaction volume, client retention, and trust in the platform.
On October 31, 2018, Upwork and Freelancers Union released the “Freelancing in America: 2018” study, estimating 56.7 million Americans freelanced and reporting growth since 2014. These recurring studies helped keep freelancing in public policy and business discussions, even as researchers debated how to compare survey-based estimates with government labor statistics. For Upwork, the reports also reinforced the narrative that independent work was becoming more common.
In its full-year 2018 results (reported February 28, 2019), Upwork said gross services volume (GSV) reached $1.76 billion for 2018, up 28% year over year. Reporting GSV matters because it measures total client spending flowing through the platform, not just Upwork’s own revenue. This helped investors and researchers track how quickly online freelancing marketplaces were scaling.
In its 2019 full-year results (released February 26, 2020), Upwork reported gross services volume of $2.087 billion, up 19% year over year. This showed continued growth in how much work (and payment) was being routed through the marketplace. The results also emphasized a larger “core client” base, pointing to more repeat usage rather than only one-time projects.
In 2020, the COVID-19 crisis pushed many organizations to operate remotely, increasing interest in tools that support distributed work. Upwork’s own reporting highlighted new products and services aimed at helping companies quickly access remote talent and manage remote workflows. This period helped move remote contracting from “optional” to “strategic” for many businesses.
By the end of the 2010–2020 decade, Upwork had moved from a merger of two competitors into a single public company with multi-billion-dollar annual gross services volume reported for 2019. The platform’s trajectory over this period showed how remote freelance marketplaces could scale through consolidation, branding, enterprise targeting, and improved online collaboration tools. This set the stage for the 2020s, when remote work and online contracting became even more central to many industries.
Upwork and the Scaling of Remote Freelance Marketplaces (2010-2020)