Thumbtack (website)

Thumbtack, Inc.
Type Private
Headquarters San Francisco, California
Website www.thumbtack.com
Alexa rank positive decrease 2,975 (April 2014)[1]
Type of site Consumer Service
Registration Optional
Available in English
Current status Active

Thumbtack is a consumer service for finding and hiring local professionals, launched in December 2009.[2] Thumbtack allows service providers and consumers to find each other and negotiate jobs online.[2] In August 2010, CEO Marco Zappacosta claimed Thumbtack had over 50,000 service providers signed up on the website.[3] By January 2012, the company said that number had grown to over 240,000 service providers.[4]

Awards

Thumbtack won the Vator Juice Pitcher award in October 2009, beating out other notable finalists RelayRides and Rentcycle.[5] Thumbtack also was selected as a finalist for the initial San Francisco Open Angel Forum in March 2010.[3]

Investment

In June 2010, Thumbtack.com raised 1.2 million dollars in funding, primarily from angel investors.[6] Investors include Scott Banister, Jason Calacanis and Joshua Schachter.[7] CEO Marco Zappacosta credits both the Open Angel Forum and AngelList for helping to secure commitments from Angel Investors.[8]

In January 2012, Thumbtack raised 4.5 million dollars through a Series A round of venture capital funding. Javelin Venture Partners led the round of investment, which also included investments from MHS Capital and the venture capitalist Timothy C. Draper.[9]

In June 2013, Thumbtack raised 12.5 million dollars through a Series B round of venture capital funding. Sequoia Capital led the round of investment, which also included follow-on investments from prior investors Javelin Venture Partners and MHS Capital.[10]

In May 2014, Thumbtack raised 30 million dollars through a Series C round of venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management.[11]

In August 2014, Thumbtack raised 100 million dollars through a Series D round of venture capital funding. Google Capital led the round of investment, with past investors Tiger Global Management, Sequoia Capital, and Javelin Venture Partners all participating as well.[12]

Small business survey

In 2012, Thumbtack partnered with the Kauffman Foundation to conduct a two-month-long survey of the company’s service providers on small business friendliness in the United States.[13] Over 6,000 small business owners were polled on questions such as the ease of starting a business in their state and the overall support in their state for small businesses.[14]

The survey found Idaho to be the friendliest state for small business and Rhode Island to be the least friendly. Oklahoma City, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin and Atlanta were rated the most friendly for small business while Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tucson, and Detroit were rated the least friendly.[15]

In 2014, the survey found that Utah, Idaho, Texas, Virginia and Louisiana were the states ranked most friendly for small businesses, while California, Rhode Island and Illinois were ranked least friendly. Small businesses in Colorado Springs, Boise and Houston ranked their cities the highest, while Sacramento, Providence and Buffalo were ranked the lowest.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Thumbtack.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Thumbtack.com aims to eat Yelp's lunch".
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "This Week In Startups episode #68 with guest Marco Zappacosta, CEO of Thumbtack".
  4. ↑ "Local Services Marketplace Thumbtack Raises $4.5 million".
  5. ↑ "Can Thumbtack evolve service listings?".
  6. ↑ "Well-known angels back local services startup Thumbtack.com".
  7. ↑ Crunchbase Profile for Thumbtack.com
  8. ↑ Austin, Scott (2010-06-17). "Start-Ups Get Free Chance to Pitch to Angel Investors". The Wall Street Journal.
  9. ↑ "Local Services Marketplace Thumbtack Raises $4.5 million".
  10. ↑ "Thumbtack Partners with Sequoia to Reimagine Local Services".
  11. ↑ "Local Services Marketplace Thumbtack Raises $30 Million".
  12. ↑ "How Thumbtack Plans To Be Your One-Stop Local Services Shop For Plumbers, Chefs And Belly Dancers".
  13. ↑ Thumbtack Small Business Survey Page
  14. ↑ Kavilanz, Parija (2012-05-08). "5 friendliest states for small business". CNN Money.
  15. ↑ [Ibid.]
  16. ↑ "Colorado Springs and Boise businesses gave their cities highest grades in Kauffman Foundation/Thumbtack.com survey of 12,000+ small business owners". Kauffmann.org. 2014-06-10.

External links