IKEA just bought TaskRabbit, which connects people who need a job done with people who will do it. TaskRabbit is the best-known matchmaker in the so-called gig economy. You need something done, TaskRabbit can help by connecting you with everyone from dog walkers to computer fixers to wine connoisseurs for parties, TaskRabbit is tops in supplying gigsters — TaskRabbit calls them Taskers — for the gig economy. (There is a site called Gigster too, but it specializes in matching companies with software engineering.) TaskRabbit has been around for nine years. It’s raised a boatload of money. And it’s profitable at the time of the IKEA purchase.
Besides launching a million jokes about how IKEA bought TaskRabbit to help people put together its famous furniture, the purchase gives IKEA a popular app and great reach. If you looked at TaskRabbit as a traditional company, it’d be huge in one sense. By way of comparison, Apple listed approximately 110,000 employees in 2015.
