Upwork revenue up nearly 29% in Q4, active clients increase by 22%

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Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ: UPWK) reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 28.9% year over year. The B2B talent platform also noted the number of active clients rose 22% year over year in the fourth quarter.

A shareholder letter by President and CEO Hayden Brown and CFO Jeff McCombs noted Upwork surpassed $15 billion in lifetime talent earnings.

(US$ thousands) Q4 2021 Q4 2020 % change
Revenue $136,856 $106,153 28.9%
Gross profit $99,805 $77,375 29.0%
Gross margin  72.9% 72.9%  
Net loss/net income ($22,556) $925 nm

Meanwhile, gross services volume — which includes both client spend and additional fees charged for other services — rose 35% in the fourth quarter to reach $980 million.

Revenue by segment

(US$ thousands) Q4 2021 Q4 2020 % change
Marketplace $125,427 $96,866 29.5%
Managed services $11,429 $9,287 23.1%

Full-year results

(US$ thousands) FY 2021 FY 2020 % change
Revenue $502,797 $373,628 34.6%
Gross profit $367,289 $269,361 36.4%
Gross margin  73.0% 72.1%  
Net loss ($56,240) ($22,867) nm

Guidance

Upwork forecast first-quarter revenue of between $139 million and $141 million, a 23% year-over-year increase at the midpoint.

Share price and market cap

Shares in Upwork were down 6.49% to $26.83 as of 12:09 p.m. Eastern time today; they were 15.15% above their 52-week low, according to FT.com. The company had a market cap of $3.62 billion.