Upwork Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Upwork Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask the question during the session, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker for today. Evan Barbosa, you may begin.

Thank you. Welcome to Upwork's discussion of the third quarter of 2022 financial results. Leading the discussion today are Hayden Brown, Upwork's President and Chief Executive Officer, and Jessica Combs, Upwork's Chief Financial Officer. Following management's prepared remarks, we will be happy to take your questions. But first, I'll review the State Cargo Statement. During this call, we may make statements related to our business that are forward-looking statements under federal securities law. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, but rather are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Our actual results could differ materially from expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements regarding the current and future impacts of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and our decision to suspend business operations in Russia and Belarus and the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and current and future impacts of the actions we have taken in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic are forward-looking statements related to matters that are beyond our control and changing rapidly. For discussion of the material risks and other important factors that could affect our actual results, please refer to our SEC filings available on the SEC website and on our Investor Relations website, as well as the risks and other important factors discussed in today's shareholder letter. Additional information will also be set forth in our quarterly report on Form 10Q for the quarter ended September 30th, 2022, when filed. In addition, reference will be made to non-GAAP financial measures. Information regarding a reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP measures can be found in the shareholder letter that will be issued this afternoon on our investor relations website at investors.upwork.com. As always, unless otherwise noted, reported figures are rounded, and comparisons of the third quarter of 2022 are to the third quarter of 2021. All measures are GAAP unless cited as non-GAAP. Now I'll turn the call over to Haley.

Thanks, Evan, and thank you all for joining us today for our third quarter 2022 earnings call. As we close the third quarter of 2022, Upwork has clear indicators that both our business and our value proposition continue to be critical to our customers in times of economic uncertainty. Revenue grew 24% year over year to 158.6 million, and GSV grew 14% year over year to exceed $1 billion in the quarter once again. An adjusted EBITDA was a loss of 2.9 million. We're focused on making prudent and sustainable investments in our business to drive steady, durable growth, even against the backdrop of challenging macroeconomic conditions. Importantly, our customers continue to count on us to enable their critical work and their businesses during these uncertain times. We have both pioneered and benefited from the major paradigm shift around remote work and hybrid workforces, fundamental changes that have shaped the new reality of work as we know it today. This sea change is illustrated by the fact that one fourth of American workers are now working remote first or mostly remote, while 71% of companies expect remote work to be part of their standard operations moving forward. This new work reality opens up a vast opportunity for Upwork to introduce ourselves to the 90% or more of companies and hiring managers who have not been aware of or considered Upwork and to bring them into the fold as customers. Nowhere has that opportunity been more apparent and central to our priorities than the late September launch of our new brand campaign, This Is How We Work Now. Appearing across TV, online video, streaming audio, digital and social media, The campaign reinforces our belief that work should unleash human potential instead of limit it, and emphasizes that now is the time to embrace the new ways of working that have emerged over the past few years. It targets mainstream prospects, clients and talent alike, who largely aren't yet aware of Upwork, but like us, recognize that the world of work has changed forever. Our strong business position and resonant value proposition allow us to remain on offense, evident through both our new brand campaign as well as our amplification of benefits most valuable to our clients, flexibility in hiring, expert talent at their fingertips, operational agility, and bottom line safety.