Workforce Venture Fund Backs Groundbreaking Self-Employment Platform

JFFVentures invests in Besolo to help freelancers and "solopreneurs" manage benefits, reduce taxes, and streamline business operations

BOSTON, Dec. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- JFFVentures, today announced its investment in Besolo from Fund II, a fast-growing startup that simplifies the often time-consuming back-office tasks for the growing population of self-employed workers and "solopreneurs". Besolo's platform, which integrates benefits (including healthcare, retirement, life, etc.), tax filings, accounting management, and compliance, generates more than $10,000 in annual tax savings for most of its members.

"The independent workforce is one of the most diverse–and fastest growing–segments of the U.S. economy. And it tends to skew towards younger workers, immigrants, lower-wage workers who have been chronically underserved by traditional back-office technology platforms," said Yigal Kerzenbaum, managing partner at JFFVentures. "This is about enabling more Americans to achieve economic mobility by growing businesses and achieving success on their own terms. It's about enabling self-employed workers to focus on their business rather than the back office."

An estimated 41 million Americans now identify as one-person company owners, including a disproportionate share of immigrant workers. A recent survey found that 81% of these self-employed individuals feel the tax system does not adequately support them, and only 22% know how to maximize deductions and write-offs.

Besolo simplifies tasks like tax management, accounting, government compliance, payroll, and S-Corp formation, but most importantly it acts as a professional employer organization (PEO) — a company that provides full-service human resource outsourcing—for solopreneurs. The PEO structure empowers Besolo to offer its members a full suite of benefits options, including healthcare, retirement, life, supplementary, and pet insurance. In addition to reducing administrative burdens, Besolo helps entrepreneurs optimize financial management and gives the same level of benefit support that most receive from a normal employer. This will make independent work more viable and attractive for a wider range of individuals.

"Our vision is to make self-employment synonymous with independence and opportunity," said Mark Jackson, CEO and co-founder of Besolo. "Self-employed individuals often face higher taxes, tax strategy complexity, limited access to benefits, and constant administrative hurdles. JFFVentures' support will allow us to expand our impact and provide more solo entrepreneurs with the tools they need to simplify their work and thrive. We see Besolo as the complete operational foundation for the future of independent work."

By drawing on the expertise and extensive networks of JFF, a 40 year-old nonprofit focused on driving transformation of the U.S. education and workforce systems, JFFVentures has access to unparalleled market and policy insights to support its portfolio companies. The firm independently operates and is strategically aligned to Jobs For Future, Inc., aims to provide competitive financial returns while doubling down on impact targets. Its investment in Besolo, the latest in its Fund II, comes on the heels of an investment in PACE.AI, an AI tool designed to help immigrants improve their English to speak more confidently at work.

Everywhere Ventures, New Stack Ventures and Service Provider Capital also participated in the round.

To learn more about Besolo.io visit here

About Besolo
Besolo is a future-of-work company fixing self-employment for businesses-of-one. Besolo is both the framework and the platform for access to benefits, maximizing tax savings, and drastically simplifying admin for self-employed solo professionals, who make up 84% of all small businesses in the USA. For more information, visit https://www.besolo.io/

About JFFVentures
JFFVentures is the nation's leading early stage impact venture fund focused exclusively on next-generation HR, education, workforce and wraparound solutions with the potential to improve economic mobility for low-income workers.Learn more at https://www.jff.org/work/jff-ventures

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SOURCE JFFVentures