TaskRabbit, Inc. d/b/a TaskRabbit operates an online marketplace that matches freelance labor with local demand, allowing people to find help with tasks including personal assistance, furniture assembly, moving, delivery, and handyman work.[1][2][3][4][5] The company was founded in 2008 by Leah Busque and was acquired by an affiliate of IKEA in 2017.
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 (as RunMyErrand) |
| Founder | Leah Busque |
| Headquarters | None, distributed company |
Area served | United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Monaco |
| Services | Online marketplace |
| Parent | IKEA |
| Website | www |
.jpg)
More than 200,000 independent workers use the TaskRabbit platform.[6]
History
The company was founded as RunMyErrand in Boston in 2008, during the Great Recession, by Leah Busque, a former software engineer for IBM.[3][7] She got the idea to start the company when she needed dog food but didn’t have time to get it herself.[8][9]
In 2009, the company received funding from Facebook's startup incubator, fbFund, and Tim Ferriss became an advisor.[10][8]
The firm raised $1.8 million in seed money from angel investors.[11]
In April 2010, the name of the company was changed from RunMyErrand to TaskRabbit.[12]
In June 2010, the company moved its headquarters to San Francisco.[13]
In May 2011, TaskRabbit raised a $5 million Series A financing round from Shasta Ventures, First Round Capital, Baseline Ventures, Floodgate Fund, Collaborative Fund, 500 Startups, and Lisa Gansky.[14][11][2]
In July 2011, TaskRabbit launched a mobile app for iOS.[15][16][17][18] At that time, the company had 1,500 active taskers.[13]
In October 2011, Eric Grosse, the co-founder and former president of Hotwire.com, was named CEO.[19][20] At that time, the company had operations in Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City; Chicago; Los Angeles; and Orange County, California.[21][22]
In December 2011, Taskrabbit received an additional $17.8 million in a Series B round of funding from existing investors as well as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Allen & Company, and The Tornante Company. It also engaged Michael Eisner as an advisor.[11][23][24] At the time, the firm had 35 employees and generated $4 million in business each month.[2][25]
In June 2012, Busque reassumed the role of CEO, with Gross staying on with the company's board of directors, advising on strategy and operations.[26]
In July 2012, the company raised $13 million in funding, bringing its total funding to $37.5 million.[27]
In January 2013, the company hired Stacy Brown-Philpot, formerly of Google, as the company's first COO.[28][29]
In March 2013, "Taskrabbit Business" was launched. It allowed businesses to hire temporary workers from the Taskrabbit users, with a 26% commission.[30]
In November 2013, the company launched in London, its first international market.[31] Because of declines both in bids and in completed and accepted tasks in the U.S., the company chose to test a new system in London whereby Taskers set their own rates and schedules, and when a new job was posted that matched their profile, the platform would send them an alert. The first to respond got the job.[9][5][32] In London, the results were positive: almost all the company's metrics improved, and the average amount of money that individual Taskers on the platform were taking home increased.[5]
In June and July 2014, TaskRabbit began implementing this new format in all markets.[33] The new format was met with significant backlash from the Tasker community.[34][35] Taskrabbit incorporated some of the feedback into an updated version of its app that launched in January 2015.[34] In 2014, Taskrabbit received 4,000 applications to be a tasker; it received 15,000 applications in 2015.[5]
In April 2016, Stacy Brown-Philpot was promoted from chief operating officer to CEO and founder and former CEO Leah Busque became executive chairwoman.[36][37][38][39]
By January 2017, the company had 55,000 active taskers.[40]
In September 2017, the company was acquired by an affiliate of IKEA.[41][42][43][44][45]
In February 2018, TaskRabbit began operations in Birmingham, Bristol, and Manchester.[46]
In March 2018, IKEA launched a furniture assembly service from Taskrabbit in the U.S.[47][48][49][50]
In April 2018, the company was affected by a data breach. At that time it had 1.5 million users and 60,000 taskers.[51][52][53][54]
In September 2018, Taskrabbit expanded to Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and other Canadian cities.[55][56]
In December 2018, the company launched operations in Brighton, Cardiff, Coventry, Liverpool, Warrington, Oxford, and Reading.[57][58]
In September 2019, TaskRabbit launched service in Paris and followed it with a rollout to other French cities.[59][60]
In October 2019, the company launched in Germany, with operations in Berlin, Bochum, Cologne, Dortmund, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Krefeld, Monchengladbach, Oberhausen, Wuppertal and the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.[61]
In January 2020, Taskrabbit launched service in 39 cities in Spain.[62]
In August 2020, Brown-Philpot resigned as CEO.[63] Taskrabbit named Ania Smith, formerly of Walmart, Expedia, Airbnb, and UberEats, its new CEO.[64][65][66][67]
In November 2020, the company launched service in Portugal, with operations in Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Coimbra, and Faro.[68]
In March 2021, Taskrabbit launched in Italy in Rome and Milan.[69]
In May 2022, TaskRabbit launched a global brand refresh, introducing an all lower-case wordmark with two different "a" characters. The company also removed the image of the "rabbit" from its logo and updated its default brand colors.[70][71][72]
In May 2022, TaskRabbit announced that it would close its physical offices, including its San Francisco, California headquarters, and transition to becoming a distributed company, with all employees engaging in remote work.[73][74]
Controversies
Criticism
TaskRabbit has been criticized by users and in the media for high fees on tasks; fees added by the platform can be as high as 70% of the original bid. Users of the platform have complained that this contributes to an exploitative attitude by clients using the platform.[76] Taskers have also complained that decisions taken by the platform have detrimental effects on taskers, and leave them no recourse to address their grievances.[77] In 2016, MIT Technology Review wrote about the research related to racial and gender biases in Fiverr and TaskRabbit's recommendation algorithms.[78][79] TaskRabbit's "Happiness pledge" which allows users to claim up to $10,000 for damages caused by taskers has been criticized as deceptive due to numerous exclusions and clauses.[80]
Legal issues
TaskRabbit was the subject of a class action lawsuit in which 10,000 taskers alleged that they had been improperly labeled as "independent contractors" rather than employees. On August 17, 2020, the plaintiff was awarded $1.75 million by the court.[81][82] The company has also been criticized for its terms of service, which claim indemnity even in cases where a court determines taskers can be legally classified as employees.[83]
In popular culture
- The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt episode "Kimmy Bites an Onion!" centers on a character creating a song for the service.[84]
- The Simpsons episode "Dad Behavior" parodies the service as ChoreMonkey.[85]
- The iCarly (2021) episode "iGot Your Back" parodies the service as PostRabbit.[86][87]
- In Single All The Way, the main character Nick subsidizes his career as a writer by working as a handyman for Taskrabbit.[88]
- In Killing It, a cash-hungry character Jillian works for TaskRabbit.[89]
- The American Dad! episode "The Long March" references TaskRabbit.[90]
- In Magic for Humans' "Guilt Trip" episode (aired December 4, 2019), a character telecommutes with a Tasker.[91]
- The Silicon Valley episode "Exit Event" series references TaskRabbit.[92]
- In Girls5eva's "Triumphant Return to the Studio" episode, Dawn searches Taskrabbit for "geriatric button pushers with no opinions."[93]
References
External links
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
