Prokubo just launched a new digital marketplace for marketing, design and communication services.

On one hand, the Portuguese startup aims to facilitate the access of startups and small companies to good services in the creative fields, at affordable prices. On the other hand, it intends to improve the employability of the creative professionals.

According to Hugo Ortiz, co-founder of Prokubo,

Every company, especially those recently created, need a logo and a brand identity, a website and so on. They need designers, programmers, translators – a bunch of different professionals that they don’t have the structure to hire full-time. If this need exists, and there are a lot of different professionals ready to provide those services, it shouldn’t be complicated to bring them together.

Prokubo was now launched in Portugal and Spain, in both Portuguese and Spanish, and intents to have more than 6 thousand users and 2 thousand companies registered till the end of 2015. In the beta phase, they had already 2.500 professionals offering more than 100 services in areas like design, programming, video, illustration and branding.

How does it work?

It is very simple: every creative professional can add his own portfolio to his profile to increase the visibility, and the companies only have to check it and decide who is the best fit for them. Although it is possible to have an offline briefing, there’s also a chance for a company to fill an online form with relevant information such as the budget and deadline.

After the match is done, Prokubo act as an intermediary – promoting the contact, the exchange of documents and ensuring the payment, using an innovative system called Safe Pay. At the beginning, the company makes a deposit in its ProKubo account. As soon as the work is done as stipulated, the company gives the green light, allowing the payment to be done. There is also a referral system in ProKubo: invite creative professionals and companies and you might get some money as well.