Arlington-based hourly hiring platform Snagajob has bought PeopleMatter, a competitor in the field, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was likely made possible by the $100 million Snagajob raised in a huge funding round earlier this year.
The Charleston, SC-based PeopleMatter has its own specialties that will add to Snagajob's portfolio. PeopleMatter is aimed particularly at the service industry, which can now shore up Snagajob's own work in that area. And the close to 50,000 locations and 55,000 users can give Snagajob an immediate boost in its own outreach.
Snagajob describes the deal as a way of combining its own work of finding the right people for the right positions with sever-year-old PeopleMatter's own improvement to how employers and employees interact, and how quickly open positions can be filled.
Combined, the two companies represent almost 70 million hourly workers. And because of the rapid growth of the gig or 1099 economy, that number is set to grow even more. Intuit has estimated there will be 7.6 million gig economy workers in the next five years, and tens of millions of Americans are freelancers of some kind. Access to that kind of data is exactly the reasoning behind LinkedIn going for a strategic partnership with Snagajob earlier this year. Speeding up and smoothing out the process of finding jobs and employees has a staggering potential and having access to all those 1099 workers will be incredibly useful for LinkedIn, just as the tech and tools developed by the professional networking company will boost Snagajob's offerings.
