Jyve Ushers In The Skills Economy™
How Jyve secretly raised $35M, built a $400M business, and defined a new market
January may be the most depressing month of the year, but everyone at Jyve has their dancing shoes on. Not only is the company re-Jyvenating the Skills-as-a-Service industry, but it recently emerged from stealth, announcing $400 million in bookings, and $35 million in aggregate funding from Ridge Ventures, SignalFire, Crosscut Ventures, and New Enterprise Associates. Jyve is also adding some heavy hitters to their all-star lineup, as former Target vice president Anu Gupta and Morgan Stanley senior investment banker Ralph Leung are coming aboard as COO and CFO, respectively.
Gupta and Leung are joining a team with some serious CPG chops. Prior to Jyve, founders, Brad Oberwager, Cammy Bergren, and James Kairos all worked together at Bare Snacks (a company owned by Brad), which was acquired in 2014 by VMG and sold to PepsiCo in 2018. Brad is also founder and chairman of Sundia Fruit, maker of chilled fruit snacks, as well as owner and chairman of Good Greens, a plant-based protein bar; former president of more.com, following the acquisition of his firm, Acumins; and former CEO of Blue Tiger/OpenWebs.
In the Jyvers’ Seat
Jyve’s talent marketplace already has more than 6,000 workers (“Jyvers”) across 31 states.
The platform uses AI to match 4,000+ retail stores nationwide with Jyvers who stock products on shelves, order products, pack and deliver online orders, build in-store displays, audit shelving, and other operational tasks.
Overall, Jyvers have completed more than 365,000 jobs, stocked 16 million cases, and served locations in 1,215 cities.
I Have a PhD…in Skills
Napoleon Dynamite isn’t the only one who realizes the importance of skills. Jyve’s founding team knows skills pay the bills, and they’re determined to help people upgrade their utility belts. When someone signs up for Jyve, they start with tasks like moving boxes in a back room. Once these starter tasks are completed, they can unlock a variety of higher-paying jobs, from display arrangement to brand ambassadorship. There is even Jyve University, a learning platform for Jyvers to continue boosting their skills.
70% of Jyve’s market managers were originally Jyvers becoming W-2 workers. In fact, unlike other marketplaces that fear “leakage,” Jyve makes it easy for brands and retailers to hire its top Jyvers for full-time jobs, further substantiating the company’s mission to reward the best quality workers. As cofounder and CEO Oberwager says, “work hard, get promoted.”
🏅Jyve aims to outperform its competitors by rewarding the best quality workers and aligning incentives.
We look forward to seeing the growth in the Skills Economy™.
