{"id":46900,"date":"2023-10-20T15:51:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/airtasker-snaps-up-taskbox-as-it-prepares-to-tackle-global-markets-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:51:42","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:51:42","slug":"airtasker-snaps-up-taskbox-as-it-prepares-to-tackle-global-markets-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/airtasker-snaps-up-taskbox-as-it-prepares-to-tackle-global-markets-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Airtasker snaps up TaskBox as it prepares to tackle global markets – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney-based start-up Airtasker<\/a> has made its first acquisition after launching just one year ago, picking up smaller competitor TaskBox, as it seeks to ramp up growth here and overseas.<\/p>\n

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Founded in February 2012, Airtasker is an online start-up that connects people seeking to outsource everyday tasks and errands with trusted, reliable people who can complete those tasks.<\/p>\n

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In April last year, Airtasker secured $1.5 million in funding<\/a> from Bridge Lane Capital and a number of other unknown investors. The start-up had already raised $140,000 from internet investors and entrepreneurs in order to get off the ground.<\/p>\n

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Now, just one year after it was founded, Airtasker has acquired fellow Sydney-based start-up TaskBox for an undisclosed sum.<\/p>\n

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Like Airtasker, TaskBox connects individuals and businesses seeking to outsource everyday tasks to reliable and trusted people who can complete those tasks.<\/p>\n

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It was founded in December 2011 by Nick Roberts and James Mather, who, after adopting a lean start-up mentality, were able to grow a loyal community of active users.<\/p>\n

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Roberts and Mather, who will join Airtasker as team advisors, will be responsible for business development and growth as the company continues to expand its smartphone app and website.<\/p>\n

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Airtasker\u2019s co-founder and chief executive, Tim Fung, told StartupSmart<\/i> the acquisition was made possible thanks to the funding Airtasker raised in April last year. While Roberts and Mather will join Airtasker, the other TaskBox team members will not.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey have an engineer who is building the site and another guy doing marketing and social media and stuff. They\u2019re not joining us because we have those roles already,\u201d Fung says.<\/p>\n

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TaskBox made a name for itself by focusing its energy on Sydney\u2019s northern and eastern suburbs \u2013 a strategy Fung applauds.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey had a pretty clear vision in mind of who their customers would be and focused on that quite heavily, rather than taking a broader approach,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey had a lot of success with that because they go their messaging right for the right people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The new partnership bolsters Airtasker\u2019s workforce of \u201crunners\u201d \u2013 which includes university students, retirees, stay-at-home parents and part-time workers \u2013 to more than 40,000 users.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSydney is leading at the moment, but Melbourne is a close second and Melbourne has some really strong traction,\u201d Fung says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re also in Brisbane and Perth. Certainly, those markets have been smaller for us as a result of smaller populations but also the reach.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing that\u2019s really interesting is since we launched Airtasker Business last year, a lot of businesses in those areas have been reaching out for us.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCompanies in Sydney and Melbourne need staff on the ground in Brisbane and Perth.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Airtasker intends to have a nationwide presence by the end of 2013. It is also looking at opportunities overseas, says Fung.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve been having some really interesting discussions with guys in the US and Singapore as well\u2026 We\u2019re looking at partnerships but that could involve some investment as well,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Without a doubt, Airtasker\u2019s biggest competition in the US is TaskRabbit<\/a>. But Fung insists the two companies are on good terms.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re not completely un-collaborative \u2013 there is communication that goes both ways. We\u2019re pretty open people and so are they,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019re approaching some things in different ways but we can learn from what they\u2019re doing and they can learn from what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCollaborative consumption is in its super early days right now. Everyone benefits from the growth of the industry. It\u2019s a huge ocean we can conquer together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sydney-based start-up Airtasker has made its first acquisition after launching just one year ago, picking up smaller competitor TaskBox, as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,17,21,1,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46900"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}