iziwork becomes the leading temporary staffing platform in France and raises 12 million euros, 1 year after its launch
May 4, 2020
Europe
Paris, October 1st, 2019 – One year after its commercial launch, the worker-centric temporary staffing marketplace iziwork announces a EUR 12 million Series A funding round with the global venture capital fund Cathay Innovation, and its early investor Global Founders Capital. This brings to EUR 20 million the total amount invested in the JobTech startup which leverages data and technological innovation to positively transform the way candidates and employers experience temporary work and increase labor market liquidity.
Founded on September 3rd, 2018 by Mehdi Tahri and Alexandre Dardy, two Amazon and Alibaba alumni, iziwork has become, thanks to its scalable digital marketplace model, the digital leader of temporary employment in France with 200,000 temporary workers and more than 200 enterprise clients in about 100 cities.
This fundraising will enable the company to double its technology investments and accelerate its commercial deployment across France. The Paris-based startup, which already counts 120 employees, plans to double its team over the next 12 months.
A disintermediated “marketplace” model to better serve temporary workers and employers
iziwork has adapted best practices from leading e-commerce marketplaces, to radically improve the way workers access and experience temporary work, and to offer employers from large enterprises and SMBs, a better quality of service at a lower cost.
The platform offers its corporate clients immediate access to the 200,000 “iziworkers” through its app. In addition, iziwork enable its clients to reach more than 500,000 job seekers, on social networks, job boards, and through local partners such as public employment agencies.
The disintermediation of temporary labor that iziwork is undertaking through its digital marketplace model and the automation of low value administrative tasks, benefits both companies and workers. iziwork’s lower cost structure results in significantly lower prices than traditional agencies for its corporate clients, enabling temporary workers to seize more job opportunities.
To better attract and retain temporary workers, iziwork empowers them with tools that enable them to take control over their careers. As their employer of reference, iziwork also provides a caring and meritocratic environment where their reliability at work is rewarded with several advantages. In addition, the platform supports workers in their professional development through personalized mission & training for their career paths.
“Temporary workers are at the core of iziwork’s model. We want to transform their experience of temporary work not only with a convenient instant access to a large number of job offers on the application, but also well beyond their shifts with a full range of services that make their daily lives easier and allow them to focus on their work. For example, an “iziworker” can earn 800 euros per year in performance-based bonuses through our superworker loyalty program, access a loan at only one euro per month to finance their projects, or benefit from free trainings leading to better paid jobs. It is by attracting and retaining the best workers that we are able to offer our customers a unique quality of service.” Mehdi Tahri – Co-Founder of iziwork.
“Across the world, technological platforms are transforming Human Resources, the way in which employees manage their careers and how companies handle recruitments. This topic is one of Cathay Innovation’s favored investment themes; Furthermore, we pay close attention to the fact that Iziwork solutions have a very positive impact on society. With this global vision in mind, we were enthralled by the quality of the team and platform developed by Mehdi and Alexandre, and impressed to see that Iziwork appears as the startup having since its launch the fastest growing revenues we have ever seen in France!” Jacky Abitbol – Partner at Cathay Innovation
On the customer side: iziwork’s quality of service
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About iziwork’s founders
Mehdi Tahri – After working at McKinsey & Company for 5 years, Mehdi joined Amazon where he managed the European Retail Scaling program improving efficiency through leaner processes, automation and machine learning.
Alexandre Dardy – After 9 years at McKinsey & Company as Associate Partner, Alexandre joined Lazada’s co-founding team in 2013 and became CEO Vietnam until the Alibaba Group acquired it in 2018 (for more than 3 billion dollars).
About Cathay Innovation
Cathay Innovation is a global venture capital partnership, created in affiliation with Cathay Capital. It was founded around the shared conviction that supporting innovation entrepreneurs by providing them with a platform bridging 3 continents – North America, Europe and China – constitutes a particularly powerful value-creation strategy. As a multi-stage fund, Cathay Innovation partners with visionary entrepreneurs, committed to driving change through technology. Such transformation is accelerated by leveraging Cathay Capital extensive network with corporates and solid experience in operational excellence. Cathay Innovation has offices in San Francisco, Paris, Beijing and Shanghai.
To learn more, please visit www.cathayinnovation.com or follow us on Twitter @Cathayinnov
About Global Founders Capital
Global Founders Capital has been supporting entrepreneurs around the world for several years. Our teams of operators and entrepreneurs offer unique expertise and support in the technology sector. Over the past 20 years, we have contributed to the growth of more than 500 companies around the world. Facebook, Linkedin, Zalando, Lazada, Traveloka, Trivago, Jumia, Away Travel, HelloFresh, Eventbrite, Funding Circle, Slack, Revolut, Canva, Meero form a non-exhaustive list of our successes.
Global Founders Capital manages more than $1.2 billion in capital and has 11 offices around the world.