It’s always exciting when an Aussie Tech Startup lists on the ASX. But when it’s in times of massive global shift (as a result of the market conditions associated with Covid-19), it’s an even greater accomplishment. And, in the case of Airtasker, it’s just another vote of confidence in the gig economy. Nine years after its founding, Airtasker started trading on the ASX on Monday 22 March 2021 after an initial public offering of 65 cents per share -with its shares jumping to a high of $1.16 and closing their maiden session at $1.05. That’s a market capitalisation of $255.4 million.
The Airtasker startup story was driven by the personal need of the founder, Tim Fung. He told the Sydney Morning Herald about how he came up with the concept after having to rope his friends and family into helping him move house. Whereafter he had an ‘aha moment’ to connect people who actually want to do such tasks with people and businesses who have the need for it. Today Airtasker provides an online and mobile marketplace enabling users to outsource everyday tasks.
And if you consider the growth of average value per task, Fung and co are obviously onto something big (with the listing just being the start). The Motley Fool reports that the average value per task “went from $97 in the company’s early days to $159 last financial year. The prospectus forecasts $189 by the end of the current year.” Put another way: “the highest earning tasker in 2020 earned about $250,000 through the platform.”
Yaniv Bernstein, Airtasker’s COO, spoke to the team at TechLifeSydney about the listing:
“Airtasker is a mission-driven company: we have the ambition to empower people to realise the full value of their skills, whatever those skills are and wherever in the world they happen to be. The IPO doesn't change that. What it does do is allow us to share that journey with more like-minded shareholders, and to invest more into improving our product and getting the word out to more people. Outside of the team leading the IPO, the rest of the organisation has remained laser-focused on achieving our mission. This week has been very special for us, but also surprisingly ordinary: it takes more than a stellar IPO to distract us from serving our customers!”
Carina Tam, Brand Specialist at Airtasker wrote the following: “Nine years (plus one unexpected extra day), four new global markets and more than $1 billion in work opportunities later, Airtasker is now a publicly-traded company!
Behind every assembled flatpack, repaired bicycle, spider removal, proofread CV, logo designed and end of lease clean lies an incredibly skilled Tasker who has joined us on this wild ride and helped create Australia’s #1 marketplace for local services.
Here at Airtasker, the purpose and income we’re creating is not just a byproduct of the work we do - it’s our core purpose. For our Taskers, we provide truly flexible work opportunities and income and with the continued support of our community we’ll continue to drive towards our vision of transforming the future of work.”
Despite being in business for over two decades, Phocas’ product launch cadence is still very much like a hot new startup. Engineers get to learn something new every day while exploring new tech stacks while working to fix a lot of ‘world’s first’ problems and assessing the latest technology available to improve existing products and create new ones.
Whether you’re looking to switch roles, advance in your career, or just looking for a change of pace - this article is for you.
You don’t need to look further than the news to know that there’s a lot of pressure on employees in tech… Burnout, the great resignation, tech valuations… It’s a lot. And showing your team some love can make a big difference at times like these.