French startup Brigad has raised a new $30 million (€28 million) funding round and more than $5 million in debt. The company operates a marketplace for restaurants, caterers, private clinics, nursing homes, and hospitals to find freelancers for short-term missions.
Balderton Capital led the round, with participation from Wendel Group, Serena Capital and Square Capital.
The startup originally started in the French hospitality industry to help restaurants add waiters, chefs and bartenders to fill gaps in their schedules. A few years ago it expanded into a second industry that included care workers.
Brigad co-founder and CEO Florent Malbranche said:
This short definition sets Brigad apart from high-skilled freelancer marketplaces for business consultants and developers like Malt and Comet. Nor does it compete with recruiting startups like Side or Jobandtalent. You can’t become a sous chef or a nurse without proper training.
The healthcare industry is a recent addition, but already accounts for 25% of Brigade’s missions. And if you look only at job opportunity requests from partner institutions, the percentage is even higher.
In this regard, Brigad competes with Mediflash, another French freelancer marketplace for healthcare professionals. “We have a good relationship with them. We’ve been talking to each other since the beginning, but today we don’t cover the same areas,” he said.
Both the healthcare and hospitality industries face the same talent shortage problem. Those working in these industries say they are treated poorly, have to work long hours for low pay. That is why many workers decide to quit their jobs and become independent freelancers.
This way they can have more control over their schedules, generate more revenue and develop different relationships with restaurants, caterers and clinics. , the healthcare industry is even more affected than the hospitality industry,” said Malbranche.
If you talk to hospital employees, chances are they’ll tell you about the vicious circle of boredom and quitting. Brigad is the solution to a problem that shouldn’t exist, but the problem is still growing.
“Both industries are growing at about the same rate. From 2021 to 2022, both industries will grow 2.5 times,” said Malbranche.
10,000 organizations have used Brigad in the past. On average, they offer one mission per week. When they post a job opportunity, Brigad automatically forwards this offer to about 20 people.
Only people who live in the area and have the appropriate skills will receive the message. Missions should also pay more than the freelancer is asking for.
After that, the person who answers first is matched with the company. “On average, a talent receives 100 missions a month,” he says. Brigad receives her 20% cut on each transaction. This startup will manage 200,000 missions in 2022.
With today’s funding round, the company hopes to grow its market with more organizations and more freelancers. In his two core markets, France and the UK, he wants to double down on the two industries.
Hopefully, Brigad may be looking for additional funding in the next year or two to expand into new markets. For now, it’s time for him to hire 100 people to expand the market.
