My Big Idea: freelance management platform Malt

Hi! What's your elevator pitch?

Malt is Europe’s leading freelance management platform, where companies can source, contract and manage highly qualified independent experts across the continent. We put freelancers at the centre of the equation where companies come to find them, not the other way around, and that was a deliberate choice from day one. This inversion of traditional models was a foundational decision grounded in the idea that freelancers are the real artisans of our market.

Why does the market need it?

When we founded Malt, we saw a wave towards freelancing that few were paying attention to - a huge opportunity to give independent talent the visibility, secure payments and a way to build their reputation. What we didn’t predict was how Covid would supercharge that movement: suddenly, flexibility was top of everyone’s agenda, and alongside digital transformation and economic uncertainty, it pushed thousands to rethink their careers and turn to freelancing as a serious choice.

To this day, 69% of freelancers across Europe are confident about their long-term future, with 90% not actively seeking a return to full-time employment. In the UK specifically, despite regulatory challenges such as IR35, most freelancers continue to prioritise independence and flexibility over traditional employment security.

Where is the business today?

Today, Malt has grown to host around 850,000 freelancers working with 90,000 companies across 9 countries and regions in Europe and the Middle East. We’ve raised substantial funding - over €160 million invested - and are on track to hit €1 billion in GMV this year. What started as a French marketplace has blossomed into a continent-wide platform with teams and freelancers across multiple countries.

What made you think there was money in this?

My insight came straight from my experience founding Ooprint and Dromadaire - I constantly needed trusted freelancers, and it wasn't easy. When I met Hugo Lassiège, my co-founder, in 2012 through a freelance collective, we saw that there was a real opportunity. We were inspired by Airbnb’s community model, and that led to launching Hopwork (now Malt) in 2013 with a model grounded in my own lived challenges.

Access to talent is the number one priority for CEOs, even in times of uncertainty. The war for talent has intensified, especially with the rapid growth of AI, and with companies leaning on short-term projects to stay agile, more leaders are turning to freelancers and consultants. In fact, our latest Tech Trends report showed that the demand for AI projects has grown by 230% in the past year. Businesses want efficiency, flexibility and immediate access to business-critical knowledge, and there’s now a clear acceptance that freelancers can plug critical skills gaps faster and more effectively than permanent hires.

What's your biggest strength?

We saw that existing platforms were often built around offshore, low-cost formats, which didn’t match the needs of high-performing freelancers. We chose instead to reverse that by focusing on the ‘new artisans’- skilled specialists whom companies would seek out, not crowd-sourced applicants. We created networking events and visibility so freelancers could truly shine. We also built tools like AI Search, helping organisations find the right freelancers faster and smarter, using AI to match projects with expertise while keeping transparency and freelancer choice at the core.

What is the secret to making the business work?

I think the real secret is community and trust, and that starts with making space for freelancers to feel seen and supported. We’ve learned that in a scarce talent market, the only way to succeed is by giving freelancers the best experience: networking events, free insurance, training, etc. We have our own Freelancer Advisory Board with 17 members from different countries, whom we frequently consult with. Expanding into new territories hasn’t changed that ethos - we rely on local market teams to tailor our product while threading Malt’s community values through every market. That balance, paired with local customisation grounded in trust, is what makes everything work.

How do you market the company?

We grew organically through word‑of‑mouth - freelancers and businesses spreading the word because they saw real value and control. Early on, local rollout in cities like Madrid and Munich helped build credibility. It’s less flashy marketing and more about delivering direct value, being visible in tech and freelance communities, and letting user satisfaction speak for us. Our bi-annual “Freelancing in Europe” report has also become a benchmark, positioning Malt as the voice of the freelance economy. That mix of word-of-mouth, thought leadership and local presence is far more powerful than traditional advertising.

What funding do you have? Is it enough?

In 2021, we raised €80 million from Goldman Sachs Growth Equity and Eurazeo, which brought our total funding to around €160 million. We invested the capital into product development and international expansion, which gave us the ability to move early in markets like Germany and the UK, and to acquire Comatch, which strengthened our position in consulting. Funding on its own isn’t the goal, but it gave us the firepower to scale faster than competitors and to build a truly European marketplace.

Tell us about the business model

Malt’s model is a classic marketplace model. e. Freelancers set their own rates, clients see them upfront, and Malt takes a commission on completed projects. That transparency builds trust on both sides. We also built procurement and compliance tools so that large enterprises can safely and efficiently work with hundreds of freelancers at scale. That’s why we’re trusted by global firms like Unilever, Chanel and Schneider Electric – we’ve become an infrastructure for the new world of work.

What were you doing before?

Before Malt, I spent seven years with France Telecom and Telmex in Mexico, leading their strategy and marketing teams. While there, I also launched one of the country’s first e-commerce sites delivering flowers and gifts, which gave me an early taste of building online businesses. When I returned to France, I co-founded the Aventers Group and became its COO, where we built Dromadaire, a popular European site, and Ooprint, an online printing platform. Those experiences gave me a solid grounding in marketplaces, digital products and what it takes to scale a company.

Are there any technologies you've found useful?

On a personal level, like most founders, I lean heavily on tools like Slack to keep our international teams connected. What excites me most today, though, is how generative AI is starting to transform the way we work internally – from automating repetitive tasks to helping us analyse data faster. We’re only at the beginning of seeing how these technologies will reshape how freelancers and companies collaborate, and also how they will make our own teams more efficient.

What is the future vision?

Over the next year our focus is on completing Malt’s transformation into the reference platform for global enterprises: building a seamless product offering, strengthening our payments and compliance capabilities and fully automating solutions so clients can manage their external workforce with ease.

At the same time, we’re investing heavily in AI and data to help companies work more efficiently with freelancers while giving independents more opportunities. Ultimately, the vision is twofold: to become the trusted enterprise partner and to keep growing an engaged community of freelancers - because while technology and scale matter, community is what sustains Malt’s long-term success.

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