Online staffing funding, Uber investment, Papaya Global and Hire Technologies: Tech Roundup


ATS provider iCIMS acquires recruitment technology firm Jibe

October 05, 2020

Online staffing platform Braintrust announced an $18 million funding round last week. Uber Technologies Inc.’s (NYSE: UBER) Uber Freight announced a $500 million investment. In addition, payroll firm Papaya Global reported a $40 million round. Hire Technologies Inc. (TSXV:HIRE) announces investment in Covid-19 screening platform.

Braintrust

Braintrust announced it raised $18 million in a strategic growth round. The company is an online staffing platform that aims to connect workers and companies without charging the workers fees while clients pay 10%. The company came out of stealth mode in June amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Coindesk reported the talent marketplace will essentially be owned by the freelancers and companies using it; Braintrust will use a system of blockchain-based tokens that will serve as ownership shares and allow users to vote on things such as fee levels and categories of work to be added.

The funding round was led by venture capital firms Acme and Blockchange Ventures.

Braintrust’s clients include Coursera, Nestle, Porsche, TaskRabbit and NASA.

While Braintrust is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, it has a distributed workforce in 15 countries around the world.

Uber Freight

Uber Technologies Inc. announced a $500 million Series A investment in its Uber Freight division, which connects trucking companies and drivers with those seeking to have freight shipped. The investment was led by Greenbriar Equity Group LP. Greenbriar Managing Partners Michael Weiss and Jill Raker will join Uber Freight’s board.

“Uber Freight has created an innovative and effective approach to logistics technology that we believe is highly scalable in the coming years,” Weiss said.

Uber Freight was begun in 2017, and Uber will maintain majority ownership after the transaction. The deal values Uber Freight at $3.3 billion. Uber sold the European operations of Uber Freight to sender, a Berlin, Germany-based firm, according to an announcement on Sept. 16.

Papaya Global

Papaya Global announced last week that it raised $40 million in a series B funding round. The Israel-based firm is a global payroll and payment platform. The round was led by Scale Venture Partners.

The company aims to provide a solution for payroll, employer-of-record and contractors across 140 countries.

“Payroll is an exciting industry and relevant to any enterprise, especially those that intend to expand internationally,” CEO Eynat Guez said. “However, it is painfully complex to manage payroll in different countries with multiple suppliers while maintaining a grasp of the nuances of local compliance and particular local payroll components. These pain points are experienced by companies of all sizes.”

The latest funding round brings total investment in Papaya Global to $95 million.

Hire Technologies

Hire Technologies Inc. announced last week an investment in Atlas ID, an HR technology firm that provides a Covid-19 risk mitigation platform for employers. The investment takes the form of a $200,000 convertible note with 10% interest. The note matures on Sept. 30, 2022, and Atlas ID may convert outstanding principal and unpaid interest into equity securities.

Atlas’ platform enables employees to voluntarily self-report Covid-19 symptoms. Hire Technologies’ investment will bring Atlas’ technology to Canada.


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