Fiverr took its name from a price tag. When it launched, every job on the site cost $5, whether a business card design or a short voiceover. By 2019 sellers charged far more, and the Tel Aviv company had handled over 50 million transactions between 5.5 million buyers and 830,000 sellers. Freelance work was growing, but hiring a stranger online still felt risky. Fiverr pitched itself to Wall Street as a store where services came with a fixed price and a clear description.

Services on a Shelf

Micha Kaufman and Shai Wininger started Fiverr in 2010. Most freelance sites made buyers post a job and wait for bids. Fiverr flipped that. Sellers listed a packaged service, called a gig, with a set price and delivery time, and buyers picked one like a product off a shelf. Fiverr took a cut of each order. Its apps for iPhone and Android followed in 2013 and 2014.

Ninety Percent on Day One

Fiverr priced its IPO at $21 a share on June 12, 2019, and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange the next day. The stock opened at $26 and closed at $39.90, up 90 percent. It had never turned a profit. The pandemic brought a rush of remote work, then a long slide. In September 2025 Fiverr cut about 250 jobs, roughly 30 percent of its staff, to become an AI-first company. It still trades on the NYSE as FVRR.

Cover: The Carpenter, from Arts et Métiers, Bernard Gaillot. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a craftsman at work (a trade for hire).