Uber for temp work Staff Finder raises €20M

On-demand platform quickly connects employers with skilled and unskilled workers

Staff Finder, provider of an on-demand platform for filling temporary job positions, today announced that it has secured a new growth equity round led by One Peak Partners and Goldman Sachs Private Capital.

The company didn’t disclose the size of the round in the press release but sources tell TechCrunch the amount is €20 million, or approximately $22 million. (I reached out to Staff Finder to confirm this number but they declined to comment.) It’s also unclear whether this is the company’s first venture capital round or not, so I’ve reached out to confirm.

Headquartered in Zurich, Staff Finder helps employers quickly find workers (such as chefs, sales assistants, cleaning assistants, and decorators) to fill job roles on a short-term basis. The company today focuses on serving specific industries, including catering and hospitality, retail and logistics, promotions and events, and "commercial professions," meaning admins, customer service agents, or accountants for businesses.

The company, which has 5,000 customers already using the service, says it saves its clients time and money usually spent on recruiting, and boasts that 98 percent of job requests are filled within four hours of creation. So while one focus of the platform is simply providing temp work, the other big sell is doing so at scale and on demand.

To put it in Silicon Valley terms, Staff Finder aspires to be the Uber for temp work.

"This is a significant milestone in Staff Finder’s history and the beginning of an exciting new era for the company,” said Viktor Calabrò, founder and CEO of Staff Finder, in a prepared statement. “We envisage becoming the first truly global on-demand staffing marketplace, providing businesses in major cities around the world with a technology solution that fits their needs.”

As with other on-demand platforms, Staff Finder must build up a hefty database of workers that it can count on when requests come in from employers. That’s why the company targets students and other workers who may be seeking part-time work or second jobs.

Depending on the job, Staff Finder's clients must pay minimum wages (which range between €21 and €29), though Staff Finder recommends wages be no lower than €25 for services provided by unskilled workers.

Of course, Staff Finder isn’t the first company in the world to focus on filling seats at temporary positions. LinkedIn alone lists hundreds of temp agencies focused specifically on filling temporary roles and tens of thousands of staffing agencies, which often provide temp work as part of their broader talent search and recruiting services.

Staff Finder currently offers an iOS app (billed as the "temping agency in your pocket") for employers and employees to list their requirements and search for opportunities.