Lystable was founded in the UK by former Google designer Pete Johnston. The company has now reincorporated as a US firm, and had a Series A round of funding in previous months where it managed to rake in $11 million.
Lystable’s vision is simple yet ingenious: they want to integrating a growing gig economy workforce with workplaces whose legacy software is designed for full-time staff and not freelancers. This means they want to go right to the heart of all things software. Lystable’s platform currently carries out core functions such as onboarding, invoicing and payments. PayPal co-founder Max Levchin thinks it can go a lot further.
This most recent funding round was led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, which closed in June. In an extremely profitable deal, it also received additional funding from PayPal and LeFrak’s venture capital arm. The amount it cashed in from PayPal co-founder remains undisclosed, but is a definitive addition to its funding reserves.
Commenting on the funding round, founder Pete Johnston said,
We are thrilled to have Max join our team, the support of such an experienced founder and investor such as Max Levchin is a significant boost for Listable.
He also adds that they already have some experience working together at HVF on product strategy, a venture which is proving profitable already. The excitement in the air is quite tangible.
Max Levchin, co-founder and former CTO, PayPal, said,
We have seen the rapid growth of freelancer marketplaces already make a dent in the traditional recruitment and staffing agency space; but really embracing these workers becomes harder for any company as it scales – let alone big corporations. Lystable is pushing the industry forward, by making it easy for corporations to work with freelancers, and vice versa.
He also added:
“Aside from leadership positions, I think there are few occupations that won’t have substantial populations of freelancers. One of the key insights Lystable had early on was that employment status is primarily dependent on the need of the enterprise — which varies highly — while the ability to find work as a freelancer has become easier regardless of occupation.”
This startup is therefore changing the way the players in the software industry can interact with each other, and also opening up new platforms for the same. This will prove immensely beneficial for Lystable, since it will then become known not only for its product and services, but also for successfully implementing a new operational design for the way the industry functions. The PayPal investment has hence come at a very opportune moment, and things couldn’t be looking better for the software market. We shall keep our fingers crossed!
