Upwork (UPWK) UBS’s 2025 Global Technology and AI Conference summary

Business overview and growth catalysts

• Operates a global marketplace connecting freelancers with businesses, offering over 130 job types and thousands of skills.

• Identified three major growth catalysts: AI-driven work, SMB market expansion, and enterprise solutions.

• AI category on the platform is growing at over 50% annually, now at a $300 million run rate.

• AI is used to automate job posting, proposals, recruitment, and interviewing, reducing friction and lifting GSV by $100 million in 2025.

• New agentic work and AI benchmarking for developers introduced, with further SMB and enterprise growth opportunities.

Impact of AI and category trends

• AI has led to some substitution in writing and translation, especially for jobs under $300, now 3.5% of volume.

• Platform specializes in longer, complex projects, with average GSV per client at $5,000 and rising.

• AI categories like design, creative, and video are accelerating, with AI tools augmenting rather than replacing work.

• AI infrastructure, prompt engineering, and data labeling are key drivers in the AI category.

Macro environment and SMB/enterprise strategy

• Inflation and high interest rates challenge SMB spend, but new platform features target larger SMBs with premium services.

• Business Plus, a premium product for larger SMBs, launched recently, growing GSV in this segment by 36% YoY in Q3.

• Less than 5% of GSV currently comes from this new tier, indicating significant room for growth.

• Enterprise strategy expanded with acquisitions (Ascen and Bubty), enabling access to 90% of a $650 billion TAM previously untapped.

• Integration of new enterprise offerings expected to launch in 2026, with growth ramping in the back half of that year.