Chicago startup Shiftgig is pivoting entirely to software as it sells off its staffing businesses.
Shiftgig, an on-demand staffing startup, announced Thursday that it is selling its staffing and national events businesses to two separate companies. The startup is selling 12 of its staffing business markets to LGC Hospitality, a national hospitality recruitment agency. Headway Workforce Solutions, another staffing company, is acquiring Shiftgig's New York market and national events business. Terms of the deals weren't disclosed.
The move positions Shiftgig's focus 100% to its software offerings, which it sells to staffing agencies. The startup previously worked much like a traditional staffing agency by sourcing, screening, and background checking part-time employees at stadiums, warehouses, restaurants and other businesses that rely on on-demand workers.
After selling its staffing operations in more than a dozen cities, Shiftgig's headcount now sits at 30 employees, CEO Rick Bowman said. That's down from its height of around 225 in 2017.
Shiftgig laid off 75 workers in December 2017, which at the time was about a third of its staff. LGC and Headway are taking a total of 30 Shiftgig employees.
Now operating entirely as a software company, Bowman said Shiftgig can scale more quickly and impact more companies.
"The technology is a great tool to service more industries and more workers and more clients than Shiftgig as a full service (staffing agency) ever got to reach," he said. "The potential to really hit our mission at a bigger scale is what’s exciting to me."
Bowman replaced Wage Burgess as Shiftgig's CEO in July 2018. Burgess joined in 2017, replacing founder Eddie Lou as chief executive.
Shiftgig has raised $56 million in venture capital to date.
