London-based Passionfruit, a Gen Z freelancing platform, has secured a seed round of $3.6 million in an oversubscribed round. This investment round follows the $700k pre-seed round in December 2021.
The startup will use the additional financing to broaden both its customer base and product line across Europe and North America.
Passionfruit co-founder Raffi stated: “Passionfruit is bringing a whole new workforce to the market. By 2025, Gen Z workers will make up 27% of the world’s workforce, and it has been amazing to watch our professionals bid farewell to the 9–5 workday and start a new life of independence. Even better, businesses adore collaborating with them in this manner. A more flexible and effective way to manage their connection with talent is becoming clear to smart firms.
The co-founder of Passionfruit, Issah Abdul-Moomin, continued, “Up until now, freelancing has been the domain of a restricted set of people who have access to work through secret offline networks. We are here to make it accessible to the general public. We’re not arguing that nobody will ever work a full-time job again; rather, we’re merely pointing out that millions of young people would want to live different professional lives. We are here to provide them with that option.
“Raffi and Issah are outstanding entrepreneurs – passionate, smart, and insightful – and we couldn’t imagine a more suitable duo to tackle this challenge,” said Adriana Vitagliano, a Senior Associate at firstminute Capital. We’re excited to be working with the Passionfruit team on this journey since we know they’re leading the way by democratizing access to flexible autonomy for the future generation.
“Raffi and Issah have an extraordinary capacity to appear to be working in the future,” said Henrik Wetter Sanchez, Principal at Playfair Capital. The distinguishing characteristic of founders who can not only follow but also lead category-defining movements in industries is being two steps ahead in your ideas and execution. Their description of a Gen Z workforce that is driven by freelancing and that desperately requires a demand-driven digital workspace to work, learn, and earn has completely won me over. Playfair tripling down in this round and advancing Passionfruit with this team makes me happy.
By reproducing and enhancing the whole range of services that a full-time job offers, Passionfruit is the first platform to provide Gen Z a genuine and robust choice between employment with a firm and freelancing. According to a press statement from the company, they will gradually grow into related areas to suit consumer demand.
Currently, finding new clients, dealing with administrative tasks, and striving to improve one’s skills take up at least 45% of a freelancer’s time. Passionfruit completely alters what it’s like to be a freelancer day to day. Specialists on Passionfruit receive briefs catered to their skills and interests, have oversight over their annual earnings, and are a part of a close-knit community through a near-peer mentorship program rather than scrounging around for work, managing finances in an Excel spreadsheet, and feeling isolated.
Image Credit: Passionfruit
