Gig economy companies such as Uber, Instacart, and goPuff provide employees with a new way to make money on their own schedule. But this flexibility has brought a certain degree of income instability-adequate work and regular salary are not always guaranteed like traditional nine-to-five jobs.
That’s there solo The new Seattle startup has just announced a $5.5 million seed round of funding, which aims to help temporary workers by providing hourly income forecasts for a week. Solo is so sure of his data that the company provides a guarantee that if workers’ final income decreases, they will make up the difference.Predictive use Aggregated historical data from Solo users, And the potential impact of real-time events.
The idea is to allow employees to better understand when, where and what to do across various platforms. Solo’s larger vision is to provide gig workers with additional assistance related to insurance, taxation, mileage tracking, etc.
“We have always felt that this platform is a bit against odd jobs,” said Bryce Bennett, Co-founder and CEO of Solo. “They don’t have a lot of tools or information to use their time effectively. It’s a bit like a guessing game.”
Bennett founded Solo last year Wu KeithThey worked for Uber and cargo startup Convoy in Seattle and Portland.The experience of each company allows them to carefully examine the challenges faced by independent contractors as part of the gig economy Growth in the past ten years Part of the reason is technology-driven services like Uber.
Devin Jansa is one of these workers. Three years ago, he left his traditional full-time job in Seattle because he “never wanted to be an employee anymore.” He is using Solo to help determine when to work for Uber, Lyft, Grubhub and DoorDash. Since using the application, his income has increased by 30%.
“This is a very useful tool,” Jansa said.
Bennett said the surge in various odd jobs over the past five years has created demand for Solo and the like. It is advantageous for staff to use multiple platforms, but it also adds complexity.
“It is a good thing for workers to have so many choices now, but compared to when there were only Uber and Lyft, it makes the calculation of knowing when, where, and what work more complicated,” he said.
Income may fluctuate from one day to the next. The chart below shows the hourly earnings of DoorDash, Uber, and Shipt last week on Tuesday.
There are other startups that provide tools for temporary workers, but Bennett said Solo’s profit forecast is unique.
Solo has a number of well-known investors, such as former Amazon Consumer CEO Jeff Wilk and former Uber General Counsel Salle Yoo.
Slow Ventures led the seed round. Managing Director Kevin Colleran (Kevin Colleran) said that his company is already considering Solo’s idea, so the investment is a quick decision.
“We believe Solo has a unique advantage in solving key issues surrounding financial and professional instability, and we are happy to help those who make a living from application-based work,” he said via email.
Solo has more than 1,000 workers. The five-person company plans to expand beyond Seattle later this year. The application is currently free to use, but Bennett said there are plans to provide quality services.
Other backers include Expa, Red Sea, Fuse, Ascend, Harry Campbell (The Rideshare Guy), Dan Lewis (CEO of Convoy), Rob Hayes (First Round Capital) and Kindergarten Madrona Venture Group, a new fund run by David Rosenthal And co-host of the “Acquisition” podcast.
“Once I understood what Bryce and Key thought was going to accomplish through Solo, the demand was so obvious, and the market opportunity was so great that it was so effortless to invest,” Rosenthal said.