Lili raises $10MM to provide freelancers with an all-in-one banking solution

The nearly 60MM freelancers in America need to scout new business, perform services, and manage their back office, which includes everything from health benefits, taxes, and invoicing. Not only is it time-consuming, confusing, and difficult, but freelancers are leaving significant money on the table by not efficiently differentiating what’s a personal expense versus a business expense. Freelancers make up 35% of the American workforce and are represented in numerous verticals ranging from e-commerce and construction to beauty.

Lili, the all-in-one banking app designed for freelance workers, is committed to serving the financial needs of this community to make life significantly easier while saving them money. We believe Co-Founders Lilac Bar David and Liran Zelkha are exceptionally suited to support this audience. As a freelancer previously, Liran has an acute understanding of the issues and desire to solve the independent workers’ financial pain points. And the duo has 20 years of banking industry experience having previously founded Pepper, the first and largest challenger bank in Israel.

As a firm, we have a thesis that the future of the challenger bank will be hyper verticalized by segment, with the most successful ones being able to identify specific, optimized customer segments and build defensible digital products that uniquely address their needs. The nimbleness, willingness to experiment, the level of execution, and the learning power of the team Lilac and Liran have been able to recruit has been a joy to watch so far.

We are so pleased to welcome Lili to the Primary family and look forward to its bright future. Beyond what we’ve already shared, here are some key things to note about the company…

At its core: The all-in-one banking app designed for freelance workers

Its mission: Empower freelancers with tools and services designed to improve their work, their lives, and their balance.

How: Lili offers an ever-expanding suite of banking, expense management, and tax-saving tools, including a free checking account, Visa business debit card, expense reports and management, tax sorting, and financial insights.

Why now: Earning a combined $1.4T/year in the U.S., the nearly 60MM freelancers in America struggle to keep track of their expenses, manage their cash flow, prepare their taxes, handle their bookkeeping, and much more.

The “it” factor: Founders Lilac Bar David and CTO Liran Zelkha previously founded Pepper, the first and largest challenger bank in Israel with more than 200 employees who designed the banking product from scratch.

For more on details on the funding announcement, check out TechCrunch.

— Jason Shuman, Primary Principal

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