Freelancer Banking Platform Lili Unveils Premium Service

Lili, the banking app designed for freelance workers, announced Monday (July 19) it has released a premium service called Lili Pro.

The company said this new product — its first expansion since Lili’s 2020 launch — was created in response to the acceleration of the gig economy during COVID.

“The new economy is here. And the new economy is freelance,” Lilac Bar David, CEO of Lili, said in a news release.

“Lili is solving the financial burdens plaguing the next generation of freelancers who play such an integral role in our economy. We need to better equip this group with the tools to succeed, so they can worry less about financial challenges and continue pursuing their passions.”

The company says an estimated 59 million Americans identified as freelance workers last year, more than a third of the nation’s workforce, contributing $1.2 trillion to the U.S. economy in yearly earnings.

Half of all Gen Z workers have freelanced in the last year, with 36 percent of those workers having started during the pandemic and nearly all of them planning to continue along this path. By 2028, there will be a projected 90.1 million freelance workers nationwide, Lili says.

“Now more than ever, there is a critical need to support the influx of freelancers entering the economy,” the company said.

In May, Lili became the exclusive banking service partner for the Freelancers Union, the largest such organization for independent workers in the country.

Around the same time, Lili raised $55 million in Series B funding, bringing the New York/Tel Aviv-based startup’s funding to $80 million.

“This is about financial services for freelancers,” the CEO said at the time. “We are redefining a new kind of user, who is between a consumer and a business and has specific needs. If you look at the economy and what the future of work will look like, this really needs to be addressed.”