Australia’s largest local services marketplace Airtasker is has launched in the UK.
The platform, which helps people and small businesses get everyday tasks done, is set to create hundreds of thousands of job opportunities on these shores.
The UK launch follows a successful funding round in October 2017 which saw the company raise A$35 million for its UK expansion, the company’s first market outside of Australia.
Airtasker has already seen over 13,000 Taskers register to work on the UK platform.
Its co-founder and CEO Tim Fung said the decision was supported by the UK’s huge skilled workforce and the cultural affinity with Australia.
“One of the main reasons we have chosen the UK as our first launch country outside of Australia is because of the huge market size,” he said.
“We’re creating more than A$100m per year in working opportunities in Australia and the UK population is almost three times the size!
“With more than 65.6m people living in the UK, there is a huge pool of people with real skills and a big opportunity to have a positive impact on the future of work.
“Our mission is to empower people to realise the full value of their skills and the Airtasker platform gives people the opportunity to work in a truly flexible way by choosing the work that they want to do and then setting their own hours and pricing.”
Whilst professional tradesmen, freelancers, students and consultants can use Airtasker to identify opportunities to grow their existing small business, the platform also provides working opportunities for people who might not want or be able to find work through traditional means.
For example, people who look after young children or those that want to use Airtasker to supplement an existing part time occupation or those that have unique skills that can’t be monetised through traditional, supply-led channels.
The platform was even used to find someone to fly from Sydney to Paris to pick up sunglasses which had been left behind during fashion week, as well as hire two Star Wars Stormtroopers to walk a bride down the aisle.
Airtasker has selected XL Catlin as its insurance partner, which means Taskers on the platform are covered for liability to third parties when it comes to personal injury or property damage whilst completing a task.
“At Airtasker, we don’t see insurance as a trophy that’s kept in the cabinet,” added Fung. “If accidents happen, we need to be able to respond quickly and we’re confident that XL Catlin is going to provide the Airtasker community with the peace of mind they deserve whilst getting tasks completed.”