It's only been a few months since Lili announced her $ 10 million seed round, and she's already raised more funds, which is a $ 15 million A streak.
The startup, founded by CEO Lilac Bar David and CTO Liran Zelkha, is creating a bank account and associated products designed for freelancers, with features like early access to direct deposit payments and the ability to set aside a percentage of income for taxes.
The account (and associated Visa debit card) has no overdraft fees or minimum balance requirements; Bar David said the company only earns from card processing fees.
He also said the platform has seen rapid growth this year, with transactions up 700% since the start of the pandemic and nearly 100,000 accounts opened since launch in 2019.
Bar David has suggested that the economic turmoil caused by COVID-19 has prompted (or forced) more skilled workers - such as programmers and digital marketing professionals - to turn to freelancers. Meanwhile, he also witnessed "a major shift from part-time to full-time freelance".
Bar David predicted that the recent growth of the freelance economy will not simply disappear once the pandemic is over, because workers are discovering the benefits of freelancing.
"If you have a 9 to 5 job, you are dependent on an employer," he said. "If something happens you are out of work ... If you have a diverse customer base, you are not dependent on a single source of income."
In recent months, Lili has added new features such as auto-generated quarterly income and expense reports, a digital debit card (which customers can use before the physical card arrives in the mail), and the ability to send and receive money via Google Pay. (formerly Lili Cash App supported and Venmo).
Bar David said the startup has decided to raise more funds to expand its engineering team and further accelerate its growth. He was apparently preparing for a traditional Series A fundraising process (albeit in the midst of a pandemic), but "our current investors have been so tremendously impressed with the product's market adequacy and growth" that they were willing. to finance almost the entire new round.
So Series A was led by the previous group of 11 investors, with the participation of Foundation Capital, AltaIR Capital, Primary Venture Partners and Torch Capital - together with the new supporter Zeev Ventures.
"As the global workforce evolves at a rapid pace, we are excited to lead another round of funding to help Lili capitalize on unprecedented demand and offer an entirely new solution to help freelancers save time and money." Dovi Frances of Group 11 said in a statement.