Upwork MILITARY

Research date: 3 November 2026. All findings below rest on pages retrieved in this research. “Upwork” means Upwork Inc., the SEC registrant, and its wholly owned subsidiaries as described in its filings. ¹

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

Ministry of Defense, IDF and security-body contracts. No public evidence identified of any contract, tender award, framework agreement or memorandum of understanding between Upwork Inc. and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the IDF, the Israel Prison Service, the Border Police or other Israeli security bodies. The FY2025 Form 10-K passages retrieved describe a marketplace and managed-services business and contain no Israeli state-customer disclosure. ^{1, 2}

Defence trade directories. No public evidence identified of Upwork appearing in SIBAT or international defence-exhibition listings. The UN settlement-business database update of 26 September 2025 lists sector examples (construction, banking, telecom and technology, transport, security services), and Upwork is not named in the summary retrieved. ^{3, 4}

Press releases and official announcements. No public evidence identified of an Upwork press release or government announcement of defence cooperation or a joint venture with an Israeli defence entity. The only comparable corporate announcement found in Upwork’s SEC filings is its 7 March 2022 Form 8-K suspending business operations in Russia and Belarus, with full effect by 1 May 2022. ⁵

Federal contracting. No public evidence identified of a US defence contract held by Upwork Inc. The FY2019 10-K refers only to the possibility that federal-contracting rules “may also be adopted, implemented, or interpreted to apply to us”, and the FY2025 10-K refers to government agencies and government contractors only in connection with intellectual-property enforcement. ^{6, 1}

Controlling principals: board and executives. The 2026 proxy (DEF 14A, filed April 2026) lists the board as Thomas Layton (independent Chair, director since 2014), Hayden Brown (President and CEO, director since December 2019, not independent), Dana L. Evan, Kevin Harvey, Glenn Kelman, Gary Steele, Leela Srinivasan, Anilu Vazquez-Ubarri, and nominees Claire Bramley (CFO of Xero) and David Lissy (former CEO of Bright Horizons), with the proxy proposing the election of Bramley, Lissy and Steele as Class II directors. ⁷ Upwork announced on 5 June 2026 that Bramley and Lissy joined the board after the 4 June 2026 annual meeting, and that Vazquez-Ubarri and Srinivasan left in a planned transition. ⁸

Gary Steele: the one defence-industry link identified (update). The 2026 proxy states Steele has been an Upwork director since 2018, chairs the compensation committee, is listed as “CEO, Shield AI”, and has been Chief Executive Officer of Shield AI Inc. since May 2025. ⁷ Shield AI’s own press release, dated 12 March 2025, says Steele “will join Shield AI as CEO on May 13, 2025”, that he will also join Shield AI’s board, and that Ryan Tseng steps down to Co-Founder and President. ⁹ Date resolution: 12 March 2025 is the announcement date and 13 May 2025 is the CEO start date and board-join date, so this corrects the earlier text that tied 13 May to the board seat only. ^{9, 10} Fortune (21 December 2025) likewise says Steele became CEO in May 2025, which confirms the proxy. ^{11, 7} Wikipedia’s Shield AI article gives 12 March 2025 as the date Steele became CEO. That is the announcement date and conflicts with Shield AI’s own release. ^{12, 9} This is a director’s concurrent outside executive role, not a documented Upwork corporate act. The sources retrieved do not connect Upwork’s marketplace to Shield AI products. ^{7, 12}

Other principals. Kevin Harvey’s proxy biography lists Benchmark Capital, a prior oDesk directorship (2006 to 2014) and Minerva Project, with no defence role listed. ⁷ Layton’s biography lists OpenTable, Metaweb and CitySearch, and Kelman’s lists Redfin, with no defence role listed. ⁷ no public evidence identified in the pages reviewed of defence-board roles, FIDF or reservist-fund donations, or equity in Israeli defence primes by Brown, Layton, Harvey, Kelman or Evan. This rests on proxy biographies, plus name searches for Brown and Layton that returned nothing. ⁷

Holders at or above 10%. BlackRock, Inc. filed a Schedule 13G/A (Amendment 5) reporting 18,796,623 shares, or 15.2% of the class, with an event date of 30 June 2026. ¹³ No other filer found reports 10% or more: Vanguard Capital Management reported 5.06% (event date 31 March 2026), and The Vanguard Group, Inc. reported 0% after an internal realignment on 12 January 2026. ^{14, 15} no public evidence identified in the pages reviewed of a defence-sector act by BlackRock in relation to Upwork, and no search of BlackRock’s own defence holdings was run, so that question is unresolved. ¹³

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

Militarised product lines. No public evidence identified that Upwork manufactures or markets ruggedised, tactical or mil-spec products. Upwork’s filings describe an online talent marketplace with subsidiaries Lifted (enterprise solutions), Ascen (managed services) and Bubty B.V. (acquired by Lifted), and Objective AI, Inc. (acquired in 2024). ¹

Civilian-to-military distinction. No public evidence identified of any Upwork product variant supplied to an Israeli state body. The FY2025 10-K states that Upwork has “customers located in over 180 countries” and that about 71% of gross services volume came from US clients, with India and the Philippines the next largest talent geographies. ¹

End-user certification and export licensing. No public evidence identified of export licence applications or end-user certificates for sales to Israeli defence or security end-users. The 10-K states that Upwork screens against OFAC designated lists and that it “may inadvertently and unknowingly provide services to individuals or entities that are subject to sanctions”, and it notes possible export-control exposure for encryption and other technology. ¹

Platform-moderation and Palestinian-content angle. No public evidence identified of an Upwork policy decision specific to Palestinian or Gaza-related content or to Israeli state requests. An Associated Press report carried by WTOP in May 2026 names Upwork among the platforms (with Freelancer.com and Mostaql) connecting Gaza freelancers to clients, and it contains no Upwork statement or policy on Gaza. ¹⁶ An Atlantic Council brief of 1 September 2026 says Upwork and Freelancer.com are the largest international platforms Gazan freelancers use, reports around two thousand Gazan registrations on Upwork as of 2018 [pre-2020], and mentions Upwork’s 10 percent commission, with no Upwork policy on Gaza described. ¹⁷ A September 2026 Truthout article on Gaza freelancing says pre-war incubators introduced participants to “major freelancing platforms” without naming Upwork. ¹⁸ A November 2023 Outsource Accelerator piece says only that Fiverr and Upwork “aim to support affected freelancers”, with no detail. ¹⁹

Shield AI products (a director’s other company), for reference only. Wikipedia’s article on the V-BAT says the aircraft is “primarily used for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting missions”, and that in Ukraine it has been used to “collect and relay targeting data for artillery strikes”. ²⁰ That article’s body does not list an Israeli operator. A citation headline in the article (“Deployed to Israel America’s MQ-35A V-BAT…”) is unverified, and the article does not describe an Israeli customer. ²⁰ Wikipedia’s Shield AI article does not describe weapons or targeting functions for Nova or Hivemind, describes Nova as a reconnaissance and room-clearing quadcopter, and does not mention Israel. ¹²

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

Equipment in occupied territories. No public evidence identified of Upwork equipment, vehicles or machinery used in settlement construction, demolition, the separation barrier or military installations. Upwork is a software marketplace, and its filings describe no physical-equipment business. ¹

Direct versus indirect supply. Not applicable: no public evidence identified of any equipment supply by Upwork. ¹

Construction and engineering contracts. No public evidence identified of contracts for checkpoints, detention facilities, military bases, the barrier or settlement infrastructure. The 2025 UN database summary names construction and real-estate firms such as Shikun & Binui, Solel Boneh and Ashtrom, but it does not name Upwork. ^{3, 4}

Settlement Nexus. No public evidence identified of Upwork or its subsidiaries operating in or supplying settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or the Golan, including through licensees or franchisees. The FY2025 10-K lists Palo Alto, California as its corporate headquarters, and states that most employees and all contractors are remote. ¹ A blog (websitebuilderinsider) asserts, without citing sources, that Upwork was founded by two Israelis and that most employees are in Israel. That page is internally inconsistent, and Wikipedia’s account of Upwork’s origins (Elance, founded 1998, and oDesk, founded 2003) does not support the claim, so it is not treated as evidence. ^{21, 22}

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

Component supply to Elbit, IAI, Rafael or IMI. No public evidence identified of Upwork supplying components, sub-systems, raw materials or manufacturing services to Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael or Elbit Land. Searches combining Upwork with those names returned no Upwork-specific results, and the FY2025 10-K passages describe no hardware supply chain. ¹

Component categories. Not applicable: no public evidence identified of any supply relationship. ¹

Joint development and co-production. No public evidence identified of joint development, co-production or licensed-manufacturing agreements between Upwork and Israeli defence firms. ^{1, 2}

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

Service contracts to military installations. No public evidence identified of Upwork providing catering, transport, fuel, waste, maintenance or telecommunications services to IDF bases, training facilities or detention centres. ¹

Geographic specificity. No public evidence identified of any Upwork service in the West Bank, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem or the Negev. ¹

Shipping, freight and port services. No public evidence identified of Upwork shipping, freight or port contracts for Israeli defence logistics. ¹

Reservist pay and charitable matching. No public evidence identified of an Upwork reservist-salary policy, an Israel-specific charitable-matching programme, or donations to FIDF-type groups. Searches for these returned only other companies’ matching programmes, and no Upwork page retrieved describes one. ^{1, 19}

Israel-based entities or staff. No public evidence identified in the retrieved filings of an Israeli subsidiary or office. The FY2025 10-K names Lifted, Ascen, Bubty B.V. and Objective AI, Inc. as acquired or owned entities and describes a remote workforce, with no Israeli location stated in the passages read. ¹

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

Lethal systems, munitions and strategic platforms. No public evidence identified of Upwork acting as prime contractor, licensed manufacturer or component supplier for lethal platforms, munitions, missile defence, aircraft, tanks or warships. ^{1, 2}

Software and AI targeting (Military boundary). No public evidence identified that any Upwork product is a targeting, fire-control or kill-chain system. Upwork’s filings describe a general-purpose talent marketplace with AI-enabled matching. ¹

Director-linked company: Shield AI Inc. Israel reporting. The following is the act record for the one defence-sector link found, and it concerns a director’s other company, not Upwork’s own conduct. ⁷

• Acting entity and recipient: Shield AI Inc. (the proxy’s name for the company Steele leads), with Israeli forces as the recipient of the drone use described. ^{7, 23}
• First observation: The New York Times report republished by the Chattanooga Times Free Press on 6 November 2023 says “Israeli forces used a small Shield AI drone last month, the company said, to search for barricaded shooters and civilian victims in buildings that had been targeted by Hamas fighters”, which places the use in October 2023. ²³
• Latest observation: Shield AI’s own press release of 6 March 2025 quotes its co-founder Brandon Tseng as saying the company has “quadcopters explore buildings and tunnels for U.S. and Israeli forces”. ²⁴ Fortune (21 December 2025) says Nova “has been used for several missions in the Middle East, including in October 2023, when Israeli forces used it to explore Hamas’ tunnel network below the Gaza Strip”. ¹¹
• Discrepancy: The 2023 report places use in buildings, while the 2025 press release and Fortune refer to tunnels. The sources differ on scope. ^{23, 24, 11}
• Channels: The company’s own site (shield.ai), the Times Free Press republication of a New York Times article, and Fortune. ^{24, 23, 11}
• Status at research date: Unknown. The latest dated Israel reference is the March 2025 press release, which describes the 2023 episode in the past tense, and Fortune’s December 2025 article repeats the October 2023 episode. No Shield AI contract with the IMOD or IDF, and no Israeli V-BAT sale, appears in the opened sources. ^{24, 11, 12, 20}
• Platform caution: Wikipedia describes Nova as a reconnaissance quadcopter, and none of the opened sources describes a weapons or targeting role for the Nova units used by Israeli forces. ¹²
• Relationship to Steele: Steele joined Upwork’s board in 2018 and became Shield AI CEO on 13 May 2025, after the 19 July 2024 ICJ advisory opinion and the November 2024 ICC warrants, and after the March 2025 press release above. The opened sources do not say whether he had any role in the Israel-related sales or statements. ^{7, 9}

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

Export licence decisions. No public evidence identified of a government decision to grant, deny, suspend or revoke an export licence for Upwork products to Israeli military or security end-users. ^{1, 2}

Arms-embargo and sanctions enforcement. No public evidence identified of investigations, citations or enforcement actions against Upwork over arms embargoes or Israel-related sanctions. The FY2025 10-K lists sanctions and export controls as general risk factors only. ¹

Legal challenges and judicial review. No public evidence identified of court proceedings or judicial reviews concerning an Upwork defence supply relationship with Israel. Wikipedia records other matters: a reported US Department of Labor probe concerning unpaid wages and misclassification, and mass suspensions of Ukrainian accounts reported in July 2025, neither of which concerns Israel. ²²

Group-level conduct on conflict-region policy (asymmetric-statement check). Upwork Inc. announced on 7 March 2022, via an SEC Form 8-K, a suspension of business in Russia and Belarus, taking full effect by 1 May 2022. ⁵ The FY2024 10-K (covering the year ended 31 December 2024) still refers to that decision, so it was continuing as of that filing. ² The suspension was set out in Upwork’s own SEC filing (sec.gov). ⁵ no public evidence identified of an equivalent Upwork public statement or policy on Israel, Gaza or the occupied territories. ^{1, 2, 5}

Constructive notice (post-ICJ and post-ICC). No public evidence identified of shareholder resolutions, employee letters or NGO calls to Upwork on Israel-related military activity after 19 July 2024 or November 2024. ²² Engine Capital stake (resolved): Engine Capital’s letter to Upwork’s board is dated 13 September 2024, and news reports quoting it say Engine owned approximately 3.5% of Upwork’s outstanding shares. ^{25, 26} The earlier text of this audit, drawn from Wikipedia’s account of Engine’s 2024 activism, gave 4%. That figure is imprecise, as the letter’s own figure as quoted is about 3.5%. ^{22, 25, 26} No Schedule 13D by Engine on Upwork was found. The letter’s themes were strategy, execution, capital allocation and board refreshment, with no Israel or defence content. ^{27, 26} No Engine exit and no cooperation agreement were found, and Upwork’s June 2026 board announcement does not mention Engine. ⁸

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

UN OHCHR settlement database. The 26 September 2025 update lists 158 enterprises from 11 countries, with 68 added since 2023 and 7 removed, and covers activities such as construction equipment supply, demolition, security and surveillance, banking and online booking. ³ The summary retrieved names Booking.com as the only online travel platform among the sectors and does not mention Upwork. ³ The National’s report names newly added Heidelberg Materials, Steconfer and Ineco, notes that Expedia, Booking and Airbnb remain listed, and does not mention Upwork. ⁴ The UNISPAL entry for the update (reference A/HRC/60/19) did not display a company list in the text retrieved. ²⁸ The 2023 update (reported 30 June 2023) removed 15 firms from a list of 112, and its coverage names Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb among those remaining. ²⁹ A February 2018 report [pre-2020] said 206 companies had been identified in an unpublished database; it does not mention Upwork. ³⁰

Who Profits and AFSC Investigate. Who Profits describes itself as dedicated to “exposing the role of the private sector in the Israeli occupation economy”. ³¹ The Who Profits corporate-database page opened displayed only the first 20 alphabetical entries (A. Barkan and Co. through Agrotop) of 24 pages, so Upwork’s presence there could not be confirmed or excluded. ³² The AFSC Investigate home page showed sample companies and a total of 288 screened companies, and a listing for Upwork was not visible. ³³

UN A/HRC/59/23 (Albanese, July 2025), PAX, Al-Haq. No public evidence identified that Upwork is named in these reports. Search results returned only secondary descriptions, and the report full text and the PAX and Al-Haq documents could not be searched for Upwork’s name. ^{3, 4}

Boycott and divestment campaigns. No public evidence identified of a boycott, divestment or exclusion campaign targeting Upwork over defence-sector activity. A pro-Palestinian boycott list found by search presents Upwork as an alternative to Fiverr, not as a target; that list was not opened and is not treated as evidence. ^{22, 19}

Corporate response and policy statements. No public evidence identified of Upwork statements, contract terminations or end-use monitoring commitments about defence supply to Israel. The 10-K reports only general compliance language on sanctions and export controls. ¹

Named-entity record (each name searched or reviewed separately).

• Upwork Inc. (target): Not seen in the 2023 or 2025 OHCHR database summaries, the Who Profits pages opened, or the AFSC pages opened; none found. ^{3, 4, 29, 32, 33}
• Hayden Brown (President, CEO, director): Name search for Israel, defence, military and FIDF terms; none found; role per the proxy. ⁷
• Thomas Layton (independent Chair): Name search; none found; biography per the proxy. ⁷
• Gary Steele (director since 2018): Name search found Shield AI CEO status, with the start date resolved to 13 May 2025 (see above). ^{7, 9}
• Kevin Harvey (director, Benchmark Capital): Proxy biography reviewed, with no defence role listed; no separate name search was run. ⁷
• Glenn Kelman, Dana L. Evan, Claire Bramley, David Lissy: Proxy biographies reviewed, with no defence role listed; no separate name searches were run. ⁷
• Lifted, Ascen, Bubty B.V., Objective AI, Inc. (group entities): Described in the FY2025 10-K; no Israel or defence text was found in the passages read; no separate name searches were run. ¹
• Engine Capital LP (approximately 3.5% holder, September 2024): Searched by name; stake size resolved as above; no Israel or defence content found. ^{25, 26}
• BlackRock, Inc. (15.2% holder, event date 30 June 2026): Holding established from its Schedule 13G/A; no defence-related finding in the pages reviewed. ¹³
• Shield AI Inc. (company led by a director): Found Israeli-forces references (see above); no IMOD or Elbit relationship found. ^{12, 24, 23}

Temporal notes. The 2018 report, the FY2019 10-K and the 2018 Gazan-registration figure cover pre-2020 material, flagged [pre-2020]. ^{30, 6, 17} Steele’s Upwork directorship dates from 2018 and was ongoing in the April 2026 proxy. ⁷