Collaborative consumption startup TaskRabbit has acquired SkillSlate, according to this press release I just received. This will be TaskRabbit’s, which has a total of $24.7 million in financing, first acquisition.
Even a cursory glance will tell you that the services are a good fit. TaskRabbit, founded in 2008, is a platform that allows people to pay other people to complete tasks. SkillSlate, founded in 2009, allows people to search for local businesses that provide the services they want. Do the math.
TaskRabbit co-founder Leah Busque and CEO Eric Grosse pointed this synergy out in a (yet to be published) blog post:
“SkillSlate crowdsources its network of service providers to help its customers with anything they need done or, alternatively, provide instruction on a particular skill they’d like to develop. Sound familiar? SkillSlate is certainly similar to TaskRabbit, particularly in the sense that it’s a service marketplace.
What makes SkillSlate unique, though, is its focus on skill-based and artistic tasks – including personal training, tutoring, DJing and even fire dancing. By integrating SkillSlate’s platform with TaskRabbit’s, we will be able to provide an even more enhanced service – one where folks can get help with practically anything.”
As part of the acquisition SkillSlate co-founder and CEO Bartek Ringwelski will become TaskRabbit’s director of financial planning and analysis, SkillSlate co-founder and VP of Product & Marketing Brian Rothenberg will become director of online marketing and SkillSlate’s CTO Mike Nelson will be joining the TaskRabbit engineering team.
TaskRabbit did not disclose the price of the deal.
