Airtasker to expand to the UK

Australian online jobs marketplace Airtasker has revealed plans to expand to the UK after raising over $33 million from existing and new shareholders.

The company secured additional financing from investors including Seven West Media, Skyfield Capital, Exto Partners, Morning Crest Capital and Black Sheep Capital. All major shareholders participated.

Airtasker has selected Lucas London to head up the UK launch. London has extensive start-up industry experience in the UK, having held senior management, advisory and mentoring roles with brands like Yubl, Feast It and Virgin StartUp.

Airtasker CEO Tim Fung said the company has selected the UK as the location for its first overseas expansion due to the similarity between customers in the UK and Australia.

“Our research indicates UK customers share similar attitudes to Australians when it come to trust in the community and getting things done. London obviously provides massive urban scale and hasn’t seen as many potentially unsustainable vertical service companies compared to say New York or Shanghai,” he said.

But while the company is expanding in the UK, it still has extensive growth plans for Australia, Fung said.

“We’re only just scratching the surface of the Australian market and estimate we’re about 0.1% of the way towards our overall market potential,” he said.

“We could absolutely bunker down in Australia, but we love a challenge and there’s no time like the present. So we’ve decided to take the same approach as we did with launching in Australia — take the plunge and then learn how to fly again. But this time we’ll be able to apply the knowledge we’ve spent the last five years building.”

This year, Airtasker has also created income protection insurance for Airtasker workers and formed strategic partnerships with global brands including IKEA and eBay.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/ShiningBlack

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