UK’s Gigged AI secures £600,000 investment

The investment will go towards doubling its team from seven to 14, with the focus on building its sales and customer success teams in the AI talent market. The company will also invest in further developing its technology for future product launches as it targets growth across the talent platform industry. According to McKinsey, this is a market expected to be worth $2.7tn by 2025.

The funding round was led by early-stage venture capital firm Techstart Ventures, with additional angel investment from other UK tech sector leaders who will now form a new Gigged.AI advisory board. They include the company’s chair John Brodie and Warwick Beresford-Jones, co-founders of Aquila Insight; Nick Jones, co-founder of cryptocurrency wallet Zumo; and Grant Fraser, co-founder and CEO of Digitonic.

AI tech for simple and effective sourcing and hiring of freelancers

The company, based in Glasgow, was founded by its CEO Rich Wilson, a former senior executive with Gartner and its Chief Technology Officer, Craig Short. The company’s AI-driven technology transforms the sourcing and on-boarding of tech talent in the gig economy by giving employers and freelancers a simple and effective way to connect and work together in the post-Covid 19 economy. Gigged.AI has developed algorithms that minimise geographical bias to match the most relevant on-demand talent to a specific statement of work. This can help reduce hire time by six weeks and enable projects to deliver faster and within budget.

Last April Gigged.AI was awarded a grant from Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund to further develop its technology, which the funding body described as having “clear potential to be a game-changer.”

Fitting the changing world of work

CEO Rich Wilson said: “Since our launch in July, the response to our product has surpassed our expectations and confirmed there is a substantial market for our proposition at a time when how we work is changing. Techstart and our other prominent investors are the ideal partners to help us scale to reach a much wider audience and further develop our offering to position us at the forefront of the global talent platform industry.”

And Calum Forsyth, investor at Techstart Ventures, added: “From our earliest conversations, we were impressed by Rich and Craig’s domain expertise and product vision. We are delighted to back Gigged.AI and join them on their journey to revolutionise how organisations engage with top-tier freelancers.”