Freelancer platform Fiverr says it is thinking long-term about its investments in artificial intelligence (AI).
“All in all, we believe AI will be a multiyear tailwind for us to drive growth and innovation,” CEO Micha Kaufman said in announcing quarterly and yearly earnings Thursday (Feb. 22). “In 2023, we also made significant investments in AI that drove improvements in our overall platform.”
The earnings report showed Fiverr bringing in quarterly revenue of $91.5 million, up 10.1% year over year. Yearly revenue came to $361.4 million, an increase of 7.1% year over year. The company’s active buyers dipped 5% during the quarter, from 4.3 million to 4.1 million. Spending per buyer climbed 6%, from $262 to $278.
In all, Kaufman said, Fiverr estimated that AI created a net positive impact of 4% to the company’s business, “as we see a category mix shift from simple services such as translation and voiceover to more complex services such as mobile app development, eCommerce management, or financial consulting.”
Last year, the CEO said, “complex services” made up close to one-third of Fiverr’s market base, “a significant step up from 2022.”
In addition, these tend to be larger projects of a longer duration, with an average transaction size 30% higher than those of simple services.
“Double clicking on these numbers, we believe that the opportunities created by emerging technologies far outweigh the jobs they replace,” Kaufman said. “Human talent continues to be an essential part of unlocking the potential of new technologies.”
Fiverr last month announced the launch of an AI-enhanced homepage as part of its latest rollout of new products.
“Fiverr’s transformed homepage offers more personalization, seamless navigation, and additional control, simplifying access to the right freelance talent for businesses,” the company said in a news release provided to PYMNTS.
“Leveraging ‘Fiverr Neo,’ Fiverr’s AI-powered copilot technology, businesses will get tailored service recommendations to enhance their project,” the company added.
Introduced last year, Fiverr Neo is a personalized recruiting expert that leverages the latest technology and algorithms to help customers “more accurately scope their projects and get matched with freelance talent, just like a human recruiter, only with more data and more brain power,” Kaufman said during an earnings call in November.