Skillslate
Skillslate develops marketing tools that enable local individual businesses to connect with consumers.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
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SkillSlate operated as a New York City-based online marketplace designed to connect individual service providers with local consumers. The company was founded in 2009 by Bartek Ringwelski, Brian Rothenberg, and Adrian Grabicki. The concept for the platform reportedly originated from Ringwelski's own difficulty in finding a cleaning person while he was a venture capitalist at Canaan Partners.
The firm initially launched in May 2009 with $50,000 raised from friends and family. By October 2010, SkillSlate had secured $1.1 million in a seed funding round from investors including Canaan Partners and First Round Capital. The platform's primary function was to help small, independent service providers—such as tutors, handymen, dog walkers, and DJs—market their skills online. For consumers, it provided a direct channel to find and hire trusted local individuals at potentially lower costs than established companies. Service provider profiles on SkillSlate were detailed, featuring professional and personal information, photos, fees, and customer reviews to build trust and transparency. The platform operated as an auction-based website where providers could bid on jobs posted by consumers.
A key part of SkillSlate's value proposition was enhancing the online visibility of its service providers, helping them appear more prominently in search engine results. The company specifically targeted the New York metropolitan area. In January 2012, the service marketplace TaskRabbit acquired SkillSlate for an undisclosed amount in a move that was seen as both a talent acquisition and a strategic consolidation in the local services market. Following the acquisition, SkillSlate's key personnel joined the TaskRabbit team: Bartek Ringwelski became the director of financial planning and analysis, Brian Rothenberg took on the role of director of online marketing, and Mike Nelson joined the engineering team.
Keywords: local services marketplace, service provider directory, online booking, freelancer platform, peer-to-peer services, gig economy, local professionals, auction-based services, handyman services, tutoring services, dog walkers, DJs, New York City services, TaskRabbit acquisition, Bartek Ringwelski, Brian Rothenberg, Canaan Partners, First Round Capital, micro-jobs, service auction