Freelancers in the U.S. spent more than one billion hours freelancing last week — yes, just last week. Of those freelancers, 64% found work online. It’s no secret that the gig economy has exploded over the last several years, and it’s an area that we’ve become deeply interested in as investors. We’re excited to announce High Alpha Capital’s investment in Superside, a design management platform for the global workforce, as part of its Series A financing. We are impressed with Superside’s vision for the future of work, as well as their strategy to capitalize on the growth of a hybrid freelance model within enterprises. We are grateful to invest alongside top venture firms including Freestyle Capital, Alliance Venture, Slack Fund, and Y Combinator. Superside reimagines creative production by eliminating the bottlenecks that design agencies present, making it easier and more accessible for all involved. Because Superside taps into the global talent pool, it is the first platform that can assemble a qualified team with the right expertise to deliver high-quality work in under 48 hours. Project managers ensure accountability and high-quality work, and talent is matched to unique projects solely based on qualifications and skills, rather than focusing on traditional hiring qualifications, which often come loaded with inherent bias. It’s no secret that the state of the workforce is changing. We believe two primary trends are driving the transformation:
- Workers no longer feel the company loyalty that once dominated the workforce. Employees are less interested in spending an entire career with one employer and increasingly are preferring to be freelancers. This has led to the growth of the gig economy, thus creating a large market opportunity, with a growing proportion of the workforce opting for the freelance model.
- Distributed workforces are becoming the new norm. A good portion of the companies we meet at High Alpha are either fully distributed or partially distributed with some functions of the organization working remotely. The rise of high-quality enterprise tools, such as Zoom and Slack, are enabling teams to operate seamlessly, even if distributed throughout the world.
Superside’s mission is to help build a fair, transparent online labor market. They architected a platform to eliminate inherent bias from the traditional hiring process, reducing the risk of discrimination against candidates based on gender, geography, race, culture, religion, age, sexual preference or physical attributes. This has allowed Superside to tap into a global talent pool and redefine the modern workplace by creating its own design operations platform. By providing flexible work arrangements and the opportunity to work remotely, the company has opened up job opportunities in marginalized communities around the globe. Superside’s platform has more than 120 creatives from over 40 countries, spanning 6 continents and 45 unique nationalities. On top of that, 56% of its workforce is made up of women. Superside has also developed a training program to progress the development of designers. We’re seeing designers paid up to 5x more than the hourly wage of the local market in which they reside. Superside is positioned to be the platform of choice for freelance designers. Independent designers typically spend 50% of their time searching for projects, and many are bidding for projects that are spec work. Through the Superside platform, designers spend 100% of their time designing and never spend their time or money looking around for unpromised work. By creating equal opportunities for everyone, Superside is pioneering a new, achievable model for the future of work. With the guidance of their capable leadership team, we’re excited to watch Superside grow and are thrilled to be a part of their journey. Please join us in congratulating their team!
