Gigged.AI has raised £1.6m in a seed round led by Par Equity, alongside existing investor Techstart Ventures, Edinburgh-based design firm Nile HQ and several other entrepreneurs.
The Glasgow-headquartered start-up uses matching algorithms to help businesses source and onboard on-demand tech talent and retain existing staff.
Clients so far signed up to the platform include the BBC, ATOS, Skyscanner, FanDuel and the University of Edinburgh.
Chief executive and co-founder Rich Wilson said: “The ‘great resignation’ has seen millions of people quit their jobs every month, as they leave to seek more flexibility and better opportunity.
“When you look at Gen Z, almost two out of three now engage in freelance work, and within our own talent community on the platform we are seeing around 70% of people with second jobs, or ‘side hustles’ as they’re commonly known.”
Wilson added: “The companies in our client base are experiencing these trends first-hand and now have much better visibility for what skills they have in-house, and where they need to add talent, or up-skill it.”
Paul Atkinson, a partner with Par Equity, said: “HR tech is a fast-growing segment, and what Rich, Craig and the team have built in terms of the technology to support sourcing, onboarding, and helping to retain staff, in such a short amount of time is a remarkable achievement.”
Wilson spent 12 years in the recruitment industry, then two years as an adviser to research and consulting group Gartner, before founding Gigged.AI in 2021 with chief technology officer Craig Short, who had spent 12 years as a freelancer in the banking sector with RBS and Lloyds Banking Group.
The company plans to grow its team over the next 12 months, both remotely and at its Glasgow and London hubs, with several partnerships and new contract in the pipeline this year.
Wilson added: “We used to talk about the ‘war for talent’, when demand outstripped supply, and now we’re in a phase where there are lay-offs and hiring freezes, particularly across the global technology sector, so this is something we are working really closely with clients on at the moment.”
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