Braintrust Valuation, Funding & Investors
Braintrust is valued at $167M as of September 2020.
Last Braintrust valuation
$167M
Seed · Sep 2020
Last Braintrust funding round
$100M
Undisclosed stage · Dec 2021
Cumulative funding Braintrust raised
$124M
across 4 funding rounds
Key investors in Braintrust
True Ventures
Blockchange Ventures
Hashkey Exchange
Tiger Global
Coatue
Homebrew
About Braintrust
Braintrust is a San Jose-headquartered blockchain-powered talent marketplace founded in 2018 connecting technical and design professionals with enterprises. The platform eliminates intermediaries for 40 to 70 percent cost savings, charges a flat 10 percent project fee, and allows talent to retain full revenue shares.
Founded
2018
HQ
San Francisco, CAWebsite
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Commission
Valuation
$167M (Sep 2020)
Braintrust Valuation
Braintrust is currently valued at $167M, based on its seed round in September 2020.
The $500K round included Galaxy Digital, Kindred Capital, James Everingham, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Stacy Brown-Philpot and 7 other investors.
Braintrust valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2020 | Seed | $167M |
Braintrust Funding History
Braintrust has raised a total of $124M across 4 funding rounds.
Braintrust's first fundraising round was a $5M seed round in December 2018. The most recent completed round was a $100M undisclosed-stage round in December 2021.
Braintrust funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2021 | Undisclosed stage | Coatue (lead); True Ventures; Tiger Global; Hashkey Exchange; Blockchange Ventures | $100M | - | Braintrust is a decentralized Web3 talent network operating as a nonprofit platform that connects talent and clients without taking fees from workers' earnings, positioning itself as an alternative to traditional gig economy platforms like Uber and DoorDash. In December 2021, it completed a $100 million private BTRST token sale led by Coatue, with participation from Tiger Global, True Ventures, Hashkey, Blockchange Ventures, and other early backers, to fuel network expansion, fund community projects, and support a grants program for contributors. This followed the BTRST token launch on Coinbase and CoinList in September 2021, which added over 22,500 token holders from 122 countries and distributed 7.6M tokens as community rewards. By then, Braintrust had distributed $28M to talent across 150+ countries and saved workers over $5M in fees compared to Web2 marketplaces. The investors, including Coatue managing $48B and backing companies like Spotify and DoorDash, planned collaboration on talent recruitment products, with Coatue also becoming a client. |
| Oct 2020 | Undisclosed stage | ACME Capital (lead); Blockchange Ventures (lead) | $18M | - | Braintrust, a global network of highly-skilled technical and design talent, emerged from stealth in June 2020 and raised $18 million in a strategic growth round on October 1, 2020, co-led by ACME Capital and Blockchange Ventures, with participation from HashKey Digital Asset Group, Omidyar Technology Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Variant Fund, and Pantera Capital. The platform operates as a community-owned talent marketplace using a blockchain token model that allows talent to retain 100% of their market rate while enabling organizations to assemble flexible teams with 2-3x budget efficiency by eliminating middlemen. Founded by serial entrepreneurs Adam Jackson and Gabriel Luna-Ostaseski, the company had previously attained profitability on its Seed Round, doubled financial projections early in the year, and achieved 45-70% month-over-month growth since public launch. The funding was intended to accelerate Braintrust's rapid growth amid economic challenges, supporting innovation projects and job recovery by connecting talent and companies efficiently. Backed by Silicon Valley investors including True Ventures, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Galaxy Digital, and Fin VC, Braintrust maintains a fully distributed presence in 15 countries. |
| Sep 2020 | Seed | Galaxy Digital; Kindred Capital; James Everingham; IDEO CoLab Ventures; Stacy Brown-Philpot; True Ventures; Homebrew; Hashkey Exchange; Vy Capital; Uprising Ventures; Scott Belsky; Robert Leshner | $500K | $167M | - |
| Dec 2018 | Seed | True Ventures (lead); Jim Pitkow; Galaxy Interactive; East Chain Co.; Future Perfect Ventures; Fin Capital | $5M | - | Braintrust raised $5 million in a seed round in December 2018 led by True Ventures, with participation from East Chain Co., Fin Capital, Future Perfect Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Jim Pitkow, and others. The funding supported the initial development and launch of the Braintrust platform. Valuation was not publicly disclosed. |
Who has invested in Braintrust?
21 investors have backed Braintrust across its funding rounds, including True Ventures, Blockchange Ventures, Hashkey Exchange, Tiger Global, Coatue and Homebrew.
Lead investors include Coatue, ACME Capital, Blockchange Ventures and True Ventures.
Braintrust Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco, CA | 3 | Lead | Dec 2018 | |
 Hong Kong | 2 | Participant | Sep 2020 | |
| New York City, NY | 2 | Lead | Oct 2020 | |
| New York City, NY | 1 | Participant | Sep 2020 | |
 London | 1 | Participant | Sep 2020 | |
![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><rect fill="%23e5e7eb" width="20" height="20" rx="4"/></svg>){kind=small} Jim Pitkow | San Francisco, CA | 1 | Participant | Dec 2018 |
| New York City, NY | 1 | Participant | Dec 2018 | |
| James Everingham | United States | 1 | Participant | Sep 2020 |
 George Town | 1 | Participant | Dec 2018 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 1 | Participant | Sep 2020 | |
| Stacy Brown-Philpot | United States | 1 | Participant | Sep 2020 |
| San Francisco, CA | 1 | Lead | Oct 2020 | |
| New York City, NY | 1 | Participant | Dec 2018 | |
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 21 Braintrust investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
Sign up to see data on 350K+ funding rounds and disclosed revenue and EBITDA valuation multiples, from seed, through growth stage, to pre-IPO.
Start Free TrialBraintrust Competitors
Braintrust competitors include listed companies like Port Inc., Freelance.com and Gakujo, and private ones like Ontop, Triplebyte and Jobcase.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Japan | Publicly listed | $187M | $34M | $181M | 1.1x | |
| Miami, FL | Private | $10M | - | $150M | 15.0x | |
| San Francisco, CA | Private | $1M | - | $135M | 135.0x | |
 France | Publicly listed | $1.2B | $41M | $162M | 0.1x | |
| Japan | Publicly listed | $71M | $18M | $151M | 1.5x | |
| United States | Private | - | - | $150M | - |
Braintrust Public Comps
Braintrust is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Syuppin, PickMe, Yatra Online, Freelance.com, Dida, Martı, HomeToGo, Port Inc., Shutterstock and Hostelworld Group.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $334M | $17M | 0.6x | 0.6x | 11.5x | - | |||
| $26M | - | 6.3x | 5.2x | - | - | |||
| $99M | $9M | 1.7x | 1.6x | 20.1x | 19.4x | |||
| $1.2B | $41M | 0.1x | 0.1x | 4.4x | 5.2x | |||
| $75M | $18M | - | - | - | - | |||
| $39M | ($23M) | 6.9x | 3.8x | (11.8x) | 115.5x | |||
| $294M | ($83M) | 0.5x | 0.3x | (1.7x) | 4.2x | |||
| $187M | $34M | 1.2x | 1.1x | 6.8x | 6.0x | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Braintrust competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about Braintrust
| When was Braintrust founded? | Braintrust was founded in 2018. |
| Where is Braintrust headquartered? | Braintrust is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States. |
| Is Braintrust publicly listed? | No, Braintrust is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Braintrust's valuation? | Braintrust was last valued at $167M in its seed round in September 2020. |
| How much funding has Braintrust raised? | Braintrust has raised $124M across 4 funding rounds. |
| What was Braintrust's last funding round? | Braintrust's last funding round was a $100M undisclosed-stage round in December 2021, led by Coatue. |
| Who are Braintrust's investors? | Braintrust's investors include True Ventures, Hashkey Exchange, Blockchange Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Kindred Capital, Jim Pitkow, Galaxy Interactive, James Everingham, East Chain Co., IDEO CoLab Ventures and 11 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to Braintrust? | Companies comparable to Braintrust include Port Inc., Ontop, Triplebyte, Freelance.com, Gakujo and Jobcase. |
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