146% Growth — 2026 Is the Year of Flexible Talent
Platform growth hits 146% MoM. EOR demand up 167%, Marketing up 150%, Developers up 100%. The momentum is here—are you positioned to capture it?
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Subscribe →There's an energy in the air right now. You can feel it in the conversations we're having with CHROs, in the traffic surging through the platform, in the pace of deals getting done. After two years of cautious hiring and belt-tightening, companies are ready to move.
And the data backs it up: 146% month-over-month growth on Human Cloud. EOR demand up 167%. Marketing talent up 150%. Developers up 100%. This isn't speculation—it's real buyer behavior, right now.
2026 is shaping up to be the year of flexible talent. The companies that win won't be the ones still debating whether to embrace contingent workforce strategies—they'll be the ones already executing. The momentum is here. The question is whether you're positioned to capture it.
— The HC Team
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Platform Pulse — Week of Feb 12, 2026
146% month-over-month growth
2,719 visitors last month — and 546 in the first week so far this month.
Beyond the growth, here's what the data is showing:
- Category momentum: EOR demand is up 167% quarter-over-quarter, Marketing up 150%, and Developers up 100%. These are the categories where your peers are actively researching.
- Global reach: 39% of platform traffic is now international—India (12%), China (9%), and UK (3%) lead outside the US. Buyers aren't thinking domestically anymore.
- Research depth: Visitors averaged 2 pages per session, indicating serious evaluation behavior rather than casual browsing.
Where Demand Is Flowing
Top-rated solutions by HC Score in the fastest-growing categories:
Developers (+100% QoQ)
- Remotely — Helps startups tap into global engineering talent without the overhead of setting up foreign entities
- Supportwave — Specializes in getting senior developers embedded in your team within days, not months
- beecrowd — Uses AI to match you with pre-vetted LATAM developers who've already proven themselves in coding challenges
Marketing (+150% QoQ)
- Model B — Brings the strategic firepower of a top consultancy with the flexibility of freelance talent
- Wripple — Curates marketing specialists you can spin up for campaigns and scale down when you're done
- Richmond Concept — Blends creative talent with AI/ML expertise for brands pushing into next-gen marketing
EOR (+167% QoQ)
- Emerald Technology — Handles everything from contracts to payroll across 150+ countries so you can hire globally without the legal headaches
- MBO Partners — The go-to for Fortune 500s managing large contractor populations with compliance requirements
- FoxHire — Straightforward EOR for companies who just need someone to own the employment relationship
This Week on The Human Cloud Podcast
Transforming HR: From Cost Center to Strategic Powerhouse
William Tincup, HR & Workforce Innovation Expert
Most companies are stuck in outdated HR and staffing models — until now. William reveals how AI, flexible work, and bold rethinking can turn HR into your company's secret growth weapon. His insights help leaders unlock hidden value and build resilient, high-performing teams.
"If you're tired of slow hiring, rigid policies, and missing out on top talent — it's time to rethink how HR creates value."
Building Flexibility Into Organizational Infrastructure
Jamie Jacobs, Founder at Gig Talent
Her core thesis—that workforce agility can't be bolted on after the fact—is becoming more relevant as organizations scramble to integrate AI into their talent strategies.
"The companies winning right now aren't the ones with the biggest budgets — they're the ones who stopped treating flexibility as a nice-to-have and started treating it as infrastructure."
Industry Intel
AI hits critical mass in HR, and the workforce composition tilts toward a freelance majority.
1. AI Now Powers 43% of HR Tasks — Up from 26% in 2024
The shift from pilot programs to production workflows is complete. AI agents are now handling sourcing, screening, and compliance documentation at scale across enterprises. But here's the catch: only 26% of candidates trust AI to evaluate them fairly. For buyers, the question isn't whether your vendors use AI—it's whether they can demonstrate fairness and transparency in how it works.
2. Freelancers to Reach 48.5% of US Workforce by Late 2026
We're approaching a historic inflection point: within the next 12 months, more Americans will be working independently than in traditional employment. The gig economy is now valued at $582 billion globally. For enterprise buyers, this means your contingent workforce strategy isn't a side project—it's becoming your primary workforce strategy.
3. Boomband Raises $4M to 'Restore Humanity in Hiring'
Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor is back with a new talent marketplace that explicitly positions against pure AI automation. Boomband's 'human-first, AI-native' positioning suggests a market correction is coming: buyers are getting skeptical of black-box matching algorithms and want visibility into how candidates are surfaced.
4. 75% of CPOs Prioritize Contingent Workforce — But Only 35% Have Visibility
The visibility gap persists. Most procurement leaders know contingent workforce is critical, but their workers are scattered across spreadsheets, agencies, and procurement platforms with no unified view. If you're still managing contingent talent through siloed systems, you're in the majority—but that's not a defensible position for long.
5. EOR Market Projected to Hit $15.89B by 2035
The EOR market continues its 9.24% CAGR trajectory. But the more significant story is the strategic shift: enterprise buyers are moving away from platform-based EOR models toward providers with direct, in-country employment accountability. If your EOR relies on partner networks rather than owned entities, expect harder questions from legal and compliance.
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