Our investment in Rodeo
The concept of gig economy work has been around for decades driven by changes in technology and the increasing availability of high-speed internet and mobile devices, which has allowed for workers to manage their work on-the-go. The emergence of ride-sharing and food delivery platforms, such as Uber and Deliveroo, in the mid-2000s further expanded the gig economy model to new industries and transformed the way people work and access services.
As these industries continued to expand, many workers embarked on gig work for a handful of benefits: flexibility over their own working schedule; additional income streams outside of full time work or other periods of unemployment; and autonomy, as they are not beholden to a manager and can choose which specific jobs to accept or decline.
Despite the varied benefits, it became clear a long time ago that the gig workers, who provide the backbone of the on-demand economy, are facing significant challenges including working long hours for low pay, little job security or benefits, and a lack of insight into the way that their pay is calculated. Our co-founder, Saul Klein, highlighted a number of the challenges workers are facing back in 2015. As gig workers are classed as self-employed independent contractors rather than employees, they have no minimum wage guarantees, and often have to cover their own expenses, such as fuel and vehicle maintenance, leading to financial instability.
From speaking to many drivers within the industry, it is abundantly clear that many love the flexible work and autonomy, but a lot more needs to be done within the industry to provide workers with better insight into earnings, increased financial stability, and better access to financial products and up-skilling opportunities.
Thankfully we came across Rodeo, a platform that’s dedicated to supporting gig-workers in managing and maximising their earnings. The 9000+ workers already using Rodeo are gaining a much more detailed insight into the way their pay is calculated. Through Rodeo drivers can optimise their earnings that they receive from platforms such as Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Stewart and Just Eat, as the platform provides the drivers with valuable data insights including which platforms offer the best pay, which days of the week are most valuable, and which pick up locations generate the highest income.
Rodeo also offers a community chat feature where users communicate with each other to share their experiences, ask questions and offer advice and support.
Whilst supporting delivery drivers to earn more income, Rodeo is creating a single operating system for gig workers, where they will be able to see all available work opportunities, and be offered specialised financial products and other services.
For an industry that’s been operating for decades, this is no easy task to embark on. Governments globally have been monitoring and tweaking the regulations between the workers and platforms, and it’s clear that an independent technology platform like Rodeo is required to build a fairer gig economy.
Rodeo’s founders Alfie Pearce-Higgins and Will Day previously held senior positions at Dija, Deliveroo and Safeboda, and have worked as food delivery drivers for many of the major platforms. They’ve lived the delivery driver experience both top down and bottom up. It is rare to come across a team so perfectly balanced in experience, passion and determination to build out such an ambitious and much needed vision.
Today, we’re thrilled to announce that we are partnering with the incredible team behind Rodeo by leading their seed round, alongside Seedcamp and Form Ventures.
This expands our bench of companies transforming the Future of Work, including Justworks, Pave, Wagestream, and Progression.
