Online services marketplace Bark is launching into three new global markets: Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, further expanding its global presence to eight markets.
Bark connects consumers and businesses with professional for their project in over 1,000 unique categories.
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in London, Bark currently operates in the UK, US, Ireland, Canada and South Africa. The business doubled its turnover to £20m in 2019 and its headcount to support significant demand. Bark continues to grow 100% year-on-year.
To further growth in its new markets, Bark announced its first office outside of the UK in Australia, giving Bark a physical presence on the other side of the world. Until now, all international markets have been operated from the London office, using Bark’s online expertise to run efficiently.
Kai Feller, CEO and Founder of Bark, said: “We’ve seen tremendous growth since launching in 2015 and that there is a wealth of opportunity for services that we are looking to unlock across each of these new markets.
For Australia, the gig economy is impacting the market, with Gartner revealing that 40% of CEOs are planning on outsourcing roles and responsibilities to freelancers in the contingent workforce*, resulting in an opportunity for remote services to live online and demand for Bark to bring these services to consumers and businesses across Australia.
In New Zealand, demand for highly skilled workers is forecast to grow faster than overall jobs over the next three years. Across the country, the need for services is increasing across a number of skilled jobs, including legal professionals, architects and electricians.**
Finally, Singapore opens up huge opportunity, through its B2C-driven market and sharing economy, but also the growth of online B2B marketplaces. ***Research shows that these marketplace users enjoy a quicker brand discovery, greater transparency in product, service and supplier availability as well as in pricing terms.”
At just 28, Kai is a young and business-driven entrepreneur, based in London. Bark is the second business that Kai has founded since finishing university, the first being the app Socialite.