The Randstad Innovation Fund (RIF) has announced its second ever investment, this time in twago, the largest pan-European online staffing platform. RIF is Randstad’s strategic corporate venture fund set up to invest in HR technologies, in order to ensure future, innovative solutions to make HR processes more efficient and bring fresh answers to HR challenges.

RIF’s first investment was in Gigwalk on 20 March 2014.

twago enables small and large companies to go online to find expert freelancers and collaborate on projects. Examples include website development, online marketing, mobile app developments, and data entry projects.

Companies post their projects for free.

twago focuses on seven European countries, most notably Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and France. There are over 255,000 experts and agencies in 190+ countries, offering their services on the platform. Since its inception, 51,250 jobs have been posted on twago.

Linda Galipeau, Executive Board Member at Randstad, commented: “With this investment, we recognise the trend of remote freelance work via platforms. The market of online platforms for freelance projects has great growth potential. This way of working eliminates geographical borders for project work and gives SME companies access to experts worldwide.”

RIF intends to build a portfolio of multiple smaller investments over the next couple of years. The fund will invest in the following areas; social sourcing, online platforms, mobile solutions, virtual solutions, ‘gamification‘, and big data analytics.

Staffing Industry Analysts has identified more than 145 online staffing platform businesses operating around the world, including 33 “witkeys” (the Chinese variant of online staffing). Since 2006, the average rate of new business starts has been more than one per month (16 per year). For more information about online staffing platforms, please click here.