Why We Led the Series C for Instawork
We are delighted to lead the $60 million Series C round for Instawork, the leading marketplace that connects businesses (aka “Partners”) with a vetted, flexible workforce (aka “Pros”).
Instawork fits squarely into our vertical labor marketplace thesis, which I wrote about in this blog post. We’ve been following the company’s journey for over two years. Sumir Meghani and team have executed famously since our first meeting two years ago.
The team’s focused strategy has served them well. They started by building liquidity in a small number of geographies and only entered new cities when their Partners’ demanded it. They also launched with a limited number of job types in a few select industries to create vertical density. This tight strategy was rewarded with annual growth rates of more than 3x.
Instawork is now seeing tailwinds layered on top of tailwinds. Its Partners who laid off staff during COVID are now trying to quickly ramp up to meet the pent up demand unleashed by the rapid recovery.
Instawork is now seeing tailwinds layered on top of tailwinds. Its Partners who laid off staff during COVID are now trying to quickly ramp up to meet the pent up demand unleashed by the rapid recovery. Every hospitality business needs more staff as their industry comes back with a roar. Similarly, warehouse workers are in high demand as an acceleration of e-commerce adoption drives unprecedented volumes through the supply chain.
Many of these businesses are now eyes wide open to the big advantages of flexible staff: lower fixed costs, ability to flex up during seasonal peaks, and ease of reducing capacity when there are unforeseen changes (eg, global pandemics). This is one of the many lessons COVID has taught us and one we believe will impact staffing far into the future.
Pros also benefit from the flexibility they get on Instawork: they can choose when they want to work and which companies they want to work for. They set their own hours and can change their job each day, week or month. Frequently, they can earn more for urgent requests and peak times (and can get paid instantly after their shifts are over).
Ultimately, Instawork’s success is based on this simple value proposition for Partners and Pros alike: Instawork = flexibility
We’re excited to join Sumir and team as they build a critical marketplace for the future of work. As a champion of flexible work, Instawork will play an important role in helping businesses and workers find one another — not only during the recovery of 2021 — but as a new mainstay of the American economy.
