Global staffing provider Randstad Holding nv acquired Berlin-based twago, an online marketplace for freelance work.

Founded in 2009, twago counts more than 500,000 registered workers. It currently targets seven European countries — most notably Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and France.

Randstad in July 2014 invested in twago through the Randstad Innovation Fund.

Twago’s platform will enable Randstad and its Randstad Sourceright organization to accelerate clients’ freelance talent strategies and provide a more holistic and integrated way to manage the total workforce, according to Randstad.

“With twago’s platform and reach, we can provide clients with enhanced access to freelancers,” said Chris Heutink, Randstad executive board member. “The twago architecture can be easily adapted to create client-branded freelance recruitment platforms seamlessly integrated with our professionals’ activities like Yacht (in the Netherlands) or Expectra (in France) or the clients’ existing vendor management system. As a result, employers will be able to source talent more quickly and cost-effectively. It will also lead to a much better management of freelancers.”

The acquisition of twago follows Randstad’s acquisition last year of outplacement provider RiseSmart for $100 million. “The addition of technology and business models that enrich our value proposition to clients and candidates is part of our ‘tech & touch’-strategy,” said Randstad CEO Jacques van den Broek.

Randstad noted freelance workers comprise a growing portion of the global workforce and have become increasingly important to many organizations’ talent management strategies, with experts estimating online platforms for freelance and contingent workforce will grow by more than 40% a year for the next five years. Staffing Industry Analysts’ Human Cloud Landscape report provides a market overview and forecasts for this sector.