Collective launches to be the ultimate ‘back office’ platform for freelancers
The U.S. freelance economy is booming, according to a recent Upwork report, with more than a third of the country’s workforce carrying out some form of freelance work in the past 12 months. This reportedly created $1.2 trillion in economic value — up 22% on the previous year. But the shift has also created a lot of administrative work — from business incorporation to accounts, expenses, and taxes. Today, a startup is launching out of stealth with an impressive roster of investors to serve as an all-in-one back office for “businesses of one.” Founded in 2018 as Hyke, the San Francisco-based company later changed its name to Collective and brought on Hooman Radfar as cofounder and CEO. Radfar previously launched a website audience tracking platform called AddThis that was acquired by Oracle in 2016 for a reported $175 million, and he subsequently joined startup lab and investment company Expa, which was set up by Uber cofounder Garrett Camp. office.com/setup setup.office.com activat