Fiverr Raises $30M for Online Services Marketplace

Services marketplace Fiverr International Ltd. has scored $30 million from investors who believe the startup can make buying 1,000 Twitter followers, a voiceover with a French accent and other online services as simple as buying a book.

The Series C infusion, which boosts Fiverr’s total outside capital to $50 million, will be used to promote a refined version of the four-year-old startup’s product being released Monday and continue its global expansion.

“We think like an e-commerce company and are offering services as a product,” Fiverr Founder and Chief Executive Micha Kaufman said. “We give them [sellers] the tools to package their services. Then you as a buyer go in, search and buy.”

Like TaskRabbit Inc., Gigwalk Inc., Zirtual Inc. and other online service marketplaces to raise venture funding in recent years, Fiverr is tapping a highly connected, underemployed workforce.

Unlike TaskRabbit and Gigwalk however, which facilitate errands and tasks performed in person, much of the work posted on Zirtual, such as research and writing, or design marketplace 99Designs Inc., is online and can be performed from any location.

Fiverr takes that model several steps further, inviting a wider swath of creative and professional freelancers to post their services in any of the more than 100 categories ranging from coding in Java and designing a business card to singing “Happy Birthday” in a personalized video.

Users rate sellers, as they do with eBay and Amazon, with Fiverr relying on the wisdom of the crowds to surface the professionals.

Fiverr counts “millions of buyers and sellers” on its platform, which now counts more than three million gigs in 196 countries.

As the startup’s name reflects, services start at $5. Prices are higher based on factors including the complexity of the task, time delivered and quality. Fiverr takes 20% of every gig purchased. Mr. Kaufman declined to share revenue.

Bessemer Venture Partners Partner Adam Fisher is an existing investor who participated in the Series C round. Mr. Fisher said along with the high return rate–two-thirds of Fiverr buyers are repeat business–the average gig price has increased every month since launching.

Those factors, along with a handful of Fortune 500 companies that are beginning to use the service, makes him bullish on the company.

“Enterprises are interested if we can supply the volume,” said Mr. Fisher, adding departments within some such companies are now using photography and graphic artists from the site. “Having a fixed price is what’s innovative here.”

Along with expanding to more countries and languages, Fiverr will use the growth round to continue honing its mobile product.

It will also spend money on marketing its improved functions designed to quantify the often qualitative nature of services by including a range of filters. Along with enabling buyers to more easily find the best fit, the filters enable the sellers to provide a previously unavailable level of granularity and attach a fixed price.

For example, sellers offering voiceovers will now be able to specify gender, accent, background music and level of studio quality.

Qumra Capital led the round, with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel Partners and individual investors.

Qumra Capital Managing Partner Erez Shachar joins the board,

Valuation was not disclosed although Mr. Fisher called it “healthy.”

Fiverr employs 130 and has offices in New York, Miami and Tel Aviv.

CORRECTION 8/11/14: This story was changed to correct the spelling of Erez Shachar, the managing partner at Qumra Capital.

Write to Lizette Chapman at lizette.chapman@wsj.com. Follow her on Twitter at@zettewil