Freelance.com, a French freelance recruitment marketplace, has entered exclusive negotiations to merge with Helvetic Payroll, a Swiss company providing payroll services for freelancers and companies under an umbrella structure. Once formed, the new group expects a pro-forma turnover of over €600 million ($720 million U.S.) by year’s end, and aims to reach €1 billion ($1.2 billion U.S.) by 2025.
In the joint press release, Sylvestre Blavet, President of Freelance.com, said, “We are in a structurally buoyant market: Helvetic Payroll has achieved an annual growth of over 30% over the past three years and Freelance.com has doubled in size in the same period: this merger will accelerate this dynamic.”
Freelance.com (EPA: ALFRE) reported a 37% rise in revenue year-on-year of €325 million in 2020, and Helvetic Payroll reported a yearly turnover of €153 million.
Both companies are looking toward a future of increasingly digital recruitment that aligns with the trend towards independent consultants. In merging, they hope to provide the European freelance market with the services necessary for successful cooperation between companies and freelancers.
“We share the same vision with Freelance.com: what we have seen in IT and digital is in the process of being generalized to all high value-added professions,” said Kahled Yatouji, CEO of Helvetic Payroll.
This is Freelance.com’s second major move to strengthen its digital recruitment market position. In March 2021, it acquired three-year-old startup Coworkees, a recruitment platform matching companies with freelancers, freelance collectives, and digital teams for their marketing and communication projects. The two companies combined give their clients access to over 50,000 professionals across the IT, business and creative sectors.