Shiftsmart, a startup that has been making headlines this year for its inclusion in the Inc. 500, recently announced it secured a $95 million Series B funding round led by D1 Capital Partners.
Shiftsmart, which is based in New York City but has 50 employees in the DFW metro, is a jobs marketplace that connects shift workers — like couriers and store associates — with employers. Job seekers can also search for open shifts and register for work. According to the company’s website, workers using the Shiftsmart platform are paid at rapid speed, usually a couple of hours after they complete the shift.
“We are grateful to our investors for recognizing that Shiftsmart is playing a pivotal role in meeting the overwhelming demand to reduce friction in end-to-end labor management, especially given current macroeconomic conditions,” Aakash Kumar, CEO and founder of Shiftsmart, said in a prepared statement.
The online platform and mobile app has over 600,000 job seekers and has partnered with employers including Apple, Levi’s, Subway and USPS, among others.
Since launching in 2015, Shiftsmart has raised just shy of $120 million. In 2017, the company raised $6 million, followed by a $16.5 million round three years later. Shiftsmart is backed by popular angel investors and VC groups such as Mark Cuban and Perot Jain.
“We’re excited to partner with Aakash and the Shiftsmart team to expand access to their high-quality labor marketplace and help solve a critical need in today’s economy,” Jeff Lerman, D1 Capital Partner, said in a statement. “With record-high churn rates and job openings in the labor market, we believe there is a pressing need for Shiftsmart’s innovative approach that offers increased flexibility to workers while helping employers fill shifts and create more efficient schedules.”
Shiftsmart witnessed significant growth in 2020 after millions of workers were laid off due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Forbes, Shiftsmart’s user base grew by 300 percent in about one year.
Nearly two years have passed since the start of the pandemic and the country is still dealing with labor struggles, however, through different means. In 2021, thousands of workers chose to leave the workforce creating a surplus in job openings and a shortage of workers. With Shiftsmart, employers in need of workers have access to a large talent network in these trying times.
“We’re facing a global labor shortage that has impeded growth for the majority of retailers in our ecosystem. Shiftsmart’s labor platform is not only a timely solution to this ongoing and unsolved crisis, but it addresses the modern and growing workforce, who prioritize flexibility and independence over single employer relationships,” said Logan Langberg, principal at Imaginary Ventures Partner who also participated in Shiftsmart’s latest funding round.
Another DFW company creating innovative solutions to ease the labor shortage is QliqSOFT. QliqSOFT recently launched medical chatbots to do administrative work in hospitals that are also experiencing worker shortages. The chatbots are meant to supplement medical workers.
