Brigad raises $30 million for its freelancer marketplace for hospitality and care workers

French startup Brigad conscionable raised a caller $30 cardinal backing information (€28 million) arsenic good arsenic much than $5 cardinal successful debt. The institution operates a marketplace for restaurants, caterers, backstage clinics, status homes and hospitals truthful that they tin find freelancers for short-term missions.

Balderton Capital is starring nan round, pinch Wendel Group, Serena Capital and Square Capital besides participating.

The startup primitively started pinch nan hospitality manufacture successful France truthful that restaurants could capable gaps successful nan schedule pinch other waiters, chefs aliases bartenders. A mates of years ago, it expanded to a 2nd manufacture pinch attraction workers.

“Our marketplace is activity that requires immoderate circumstantial skills and that you can’t execute erstwhile sitting astatine a desk,” Brigad co-founder and CEO Florent Malbranche told me.

With this short definition, Brigad separates itself from high-skill freelancer marketplaces for business consultants and developers for illustration Malt and Comet. It besides doesn’t compete pinch temp staffing agency startups for illustration Side and Jobandtalent because you can’t go a sous-chef aliases a caregiver without immoderate due training — you sometimes besides moreover request a diploma.

While nan healthcare manufacture is simply a caller addition, it already represents 25% of missions connected Brigad. And if you only look astatine requests for activity opportunities from partner institutions, that percent is moreover higher.

On this front, Brigad competes pinch Mediflash, different French freelancer marketplace for wellness professionals. “We person a bully narration pinch them. We’ve talked to each different since nan opening and we’re not covering nan aforesaid regions today,” Malbranche said.

The healthcare and hospitality industries some look nan aforesaid talent shortage issues. People moving successful these industries opportunity that that they’re not treated good and that they person to activity agelong hours for a debased pay. That’s why galore workers determine to time off their jobs to go independent freelancers.

This way, they tin negociate their schedule much granularly, make much gross and create a different narration pinch restaurants, caterers and clinics. “There is simply a request for alteration successful moving conditions. Unfortunately, nan healthcare manufacture is moreover much affected than nan hospitality industry,” Malbranche said.

If you talk to infirmary workers, chances are they will show you astir nan vicious circle of group quitting because they are fed up, which leads to much activity for everyone else, which leads to much group leaving. Brigad is simply a solution to a problem that shouldn’t exist, but nan problem is still growing.

“We person much aliases little nan aforesaid maturation complaint for some industries. We grew by 2.5x betwixt 2021 and 2022 crossed some verticals,” Malbranche said.

There are 10,000 organizations that person utilized Brigad successful nan past. On mean they connection 1 ngo per week. When they station a activity opportunity, Brigad automatically forwards this connection to astir 2 twelve people.

Only group who unrecorded successful nan area and person nan correct skills will person a message. The ngo should besides salary much than what freelancers are looking for.

After that, nan first personification who answers is matched pinch nan company. “On average, talent receives a 100 missions per month,” Malbranche said. Brigad takes a 20% trim connected each transaction. The startup has managed 200,000 missions successful 2022.

With today’s backing round, nan institution wants to turn its marketplace pinch much organizations and much freelancers. It wants to double down connected its 2 industries successful its 2 halfway markets — France and nan U.K.

If things spell well, Brigad mightiness beryllium looking for much backing successful a twelvemonth aliases 2 successful bid to grow to caller markets. For now, it’s clip to enlistee 100 group to standard its marketplace.