🦄 Unicorner Startup of the Week:

Gigs

✍️ Notes from the Editors

Today’s article is brought to you by RYSE. Invest in the smart home solution that’s revolutionizing window shades (closing soon).

The gig economy is constantly expanding. Yet, in a world of fragmented services offering access to different skill sets, a more general platform might be needed.

We’re excited to welcome contributor Himani Agarwal to the team with her debut deep dive on Gigs. If you like this week’s article, connect with her on Twitter!

- Ethan and Arek 🦄

Your local gig marketplace

Gigs is redefining the talent marketplace by connecting employers with gig workers seeking hourly work. Gigs aims to build a better job search experience with a contemporary and user-friendly website, prioritizing transparency in pay/benefits and geographical proximity. The platform caters to a wide range of industries such as retailers, food and beverage, logistics, hospitality, and more, filling the gaps in the gig economy to ensure stakeholders have the freedom of choice.

🔗 Check it out: getgigs.co

💰 Business Model

Whereas most companies in this space will charge users with a one-size-fits-all model, Gigs is implementing a dynamic pricing model that leverages AI. Pricing is determined by the characteristics of each job, such as available supply and the computation required. At the same time, recruiters on the platform only pay for qualified applicants.

📈 Traction and Fundraising

• Raised a Seed round of $3 million in December 2023 (with a total of $5.7 million raised since launch) led by Struck Capital with participation from Slauson & Co., Wonder Ventures, and Karman Ventures

• As of mid-February, ~160,000 monthly website visits and a base of 150,000 registered users and growing

👫 Founders

• Allen Narcisse, Founder: Previously COO @ Workrise, Head of Market Strategy @ Lyft, General Manager @ Uber Eats, Co-founder @ Ebyline, MBA @ Harvard

📖 Founder Story

Gigs founder Allen Narcisse's story is a masterclass in identifying and seizing an opportunity. Before Gigs, Narcisse was weaving through the gig economy, gathering strands of experience from marketplaces that revolutionized how we interact with services. His time at Lyft and Uber Eats gave him a front-row seat to understanding the intricacies of supply and demand in real time, while his work at Workrise exposed him to the complexities of matching skilled labor with industry needs.

What makes Narcisse the perfect captain for the Gigs ship is the depth of his experiences. From founding a content marketplace company to strategizing market expansions and operating at the COO level, he's been in the trenches of building, scaling, and leading in the marketplace arena. His blend of an entrepreneurial mindset, strategic foresight, and operational expertise has set him up to bring all the lessons to the helm and solve one of the gig economy's biggest puzzles—how to make finding work as seamless as possible for hourly workers.

In partnership with RYSE

💼 Opportunities

• Marketplace Operations Associate

🔮 Our Analysis

Gigs is revolutionizing the hourly job market, targeting a vast potential with over 80 million open gigs and aiming to penetrate a $13 billion market. What sets Gigs apart is its dedication to transparency, providing clear details on pay, benefits, and job location upfront. This level of clarity transforms decision-making for both employers and job seekers, thereby improving the matchmaking process.

The platform demonstrates impressive traction by combining direct outreach to employers, partnerships, and powerful aggregation technology to gather jobs from various internet sources. This approach enables Gigs to present a wide range of job opportunities, reflecting its extensive reach and versatility.

Gigs' revenue model, which charges employers only for qualified applications, ensures that companies see tangible value in their investments. The platform's use of AI to parse job listings and match candidates with suitable roles increases the efficiency of connections made, benefiting both businesses and job seekers by preventing aimless application submissions.

Gigs founder Allen Narcisse, leveraging his extensive experience from leading companies like Uber Eats and Lyft, has positioned Gigs to challenge conventional job marketplaces. His deep understanding of the gig economy's dynamics has informed Gigs' approach, making job searching and hiring more equitable and less cumbersome.

Gigs continuously adapts to ensure that it remains responsive to the evolving needs of the blue-collar job market without limiting its potential. In summary, Gigs is redefining the gig economy landscape through transparency, fairness, and innovative AI use, setting new standards for job marketplaces and poised to reshape the future of work by connecting hourly workers with meaningful employment opportunities.

Written by Himani Agarwal

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Unicorner has been compensated by RYSE for publicizing the offering of RYSE’s crowdfunding round. Read the full 17(b) disclosure on our website.

Nothing in this email constitutes investment or legal advice. Readers should conduct their own research before making investment decisions.