Welcome, this industry newsletter shares key market changes, in a twice-monthly publication, curated by Jeremiah Owyang, Founder of Catalyst Companies™, you can subscribe to the email newsletter on the footer of the homepage.

Intuit Launches “Workforce” to Help Companies Manage Contractors
Intuit continues to deepen its commitment to the On Demand Economy with the launch of Workforce, a tool that allows companies to easily search, hire, and manage contractors. Workforce is a product of Intuit’s recent acquisition of Playbook HR, and 200,000 on-demand workers have already joined the platform. While Intuit’s QuickBooks Self-Employed helps contract workers manage their finances, Workforce targets employers who need assistance in talent identification, background checks, scheduling payments, communication, contracting, training, and tax distribution. By launching another product that fuels the On Demand Economy, and acquiring a company to help fulfill its vision, Intuit is doubling down on the future growth and disruption potential of the on-demand employment market. More at InvestCorrectly.

Lyft Forms Alliance with Chinese Car Sharing App, Didi
This month, Lyft announced its partnership with the largest car sharing app, Didi, following a $100M investment from Didi earlier this year. The partnership will allow Lyft customers to seamlessly use their app to hail a driver when traveling to China’s major cities, and vice versa with Didi riders in the United States. According to Lyft, nearly 8M people traveled between the two countries in 2014, offering great potential for Lyft to grow beyond its heavy U.S. focus. It’s clear with the formalization of this alliance that both companies see high revenue potential in creating seamless, reliable, and safe ground transportation solutions for their global travelers, and similar partnerships will no doubt materialize between other transportation and logistics companies as the space matures. Learn more about the alliance from Lyft.

Etsy Debuts “Etsy Manufacturing” to Link Sellers with Small Manufacturers
Craft marketplace Etsy recently introduced Etsy Manufacturing, a new service that helps successful sellers and small manufacturers boost their profits on the platform. Etsy Manufacturing, in beta, allows manufacturers to create a profile on Etsy that details their price, location, and services criteria. Eventually, Etsy sellers will then be able to search manufacturers by their data to find companies to help fulfill their small-batch orders. Etsy’s role is to review manufacturer applications to ensure they’re committed to transparent, local manufacturing practices, keeping them in line with Etsy’s mission and the values of its sellers. The launch of Etsy Manufacturing comes six months after the company completed an IPO valued at $3.5B, signaling to investors that the marketplace is expanding and offers growth potential to even the most traditional industries, like manufacturing. Get the details from The Verge.

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Image by David Haberthür used under Creative Commons license