Roamler raises 20 million euros to accelerate on-demand crowd work across Europe

Roamler has raised an investment of 20 million euros from Endeit Capital, Smartfin and Achmea Innovation Fund. The fast-growing pan-European platform helps independent professionals to work where and when they want, allowing companies to tap into an on-demand crowd of thousands of skilled workers. This new investment will be used to accelerate growth across Europe.

Founded by Dutch entrepreneurs almost 10 years ago, Roamler has established its leadership in retail, serving clients including Unilever, P&G and Red Bull, through a community of mobile users who earn money performing tasks in stores. These range from setting-up promotions to mystery shopping and gathering insights. In more recent years the company has expanded its platform to provide in-home technical installations, service and repair for clients such as Eneco, Ring and ANWB, with a community of independent, professional installers.

The investment of 20 million euro will enable Roamler, already active in ten European countries within retail, to internationally expand its on-demand professional installations, service and repair activities, starting with the UK and Germany. The capital will also be used to expand the IT and data science team.

Change the way people and companies work

“Thanks to this new round of investments, we are confident we can further develop our range of services, combining our highly skilled on-demand community of workers, with a completely data-driven approach” – states Jeroen ten Haave, CEO of Roamler. – “It has always been our mission to change the way people and companies work. Our business model enables companies to easily up- and downscale operations and get their results faster. At the same time it allows independent professionals to access more opportunities when and where they want.”

 More than matching supply and demand

Other than most gig-economy platforms, Roamler goes beyond matching supply and demand. The company assumes full responsibility for the end-result by delivering a service that goes from matching the right professionals with the right tasks on the right location, to checking the quality of each assignment. This provides businesses with a great competitive advantage in terms of costs, flexibility and customer satisfaction.

Instant payments and automated invoicing system

Businesses are not the only ones benefiting from this new flexible approach. By joining the Roamler community, independent professionals can focus directly on their core performance and skip the activities that are not directly profitable to them such as sales, planning or invoicing. The flexibility offered by the platform allows each member to decide when, where and how much they work. This, together with an automated invoicing system and instant payments, contributes in allowing each professional to be fully in charge of his career and work-life balance.

 Current investment round

The investors are Endeit Capital, SmartFin and Achmea Innovation Fund. Whereas Endeit Capital has been an investor since 2016, Roamler is bringing two committed investors on board with SmartFin and Achmea. Jelle-Jan Bruinsma, Partner Endeit Capital: “We’ve been working with Roamler for the past years, seeing them grow and improving their proposition. This investment is a key moment for the company and will allow them to solidify their European market leadership as a managed workforce platform and expand their installation services internationally. I’m very excited to work alongside SmartFin, Achmea and the Roamler team to make this happen.”

Katharina Maass, Fund Manager at Achmea: ‘The first investment of the Achmea Innovation Fund, launched in October 2019, is a fact. Not only Roamler’s network, but especially their fully digital business model – where small tasks are managed effectively and with high quality – is interesting. With Roamler as a partner, we have the capacity to expand in the various domains in which we are already active at Achmea. For example, the crowdsourcing company has been selected by Centraal Beheer as a provider of all services around Klushulp, but the network can also be used for other tasks, such as providing healthcare at home.”

Bert Baeck, Venture Capitalist at SmartFin “At SmartFin we operate with a clear strategic choice: to help Pan-European market-leading technology companies build and grow, and we believe that Roamler has the potential to create significant value in Europe. We are thrilled to join a pool of serial entrepreneurs and other investors who work together with the mission of changing the way people work”

These investors join the existing shareholders of the company, consisting of the management, Eneco and PostNL. PostNL has specifically joined Roamler Care, the branch that was introduced in 2018 and focuses on healthcare services. With the growth capital, Roamler Care in the Netherlands will be further optimized.