Randstad has acquired Berlin-based twago, an online staffing platform for freelance work.

Twago was founded in 2009 and has more than 500,000 registered workers.

In 2014, Randstad invested in twago through the Randstad Innovation Fund.  Randstad suggests that the acquisition will enable their clients’ to accelerate their freelance talent strategies and provide a more holistic and integrated way to manage the total workforce.

Randstad pointed to the expectation of labor market experts, which show that the next five years, the market of online platforms for freelancers is growing annually by more than 40%. Staffing Industry Analysts’ market overview and forecasts for this sector are provided in our Human Cloud Landscape which is available to research subscribers.

“With twago’s platform and reach, we can provide clients with enhanced access to freelancers”,  says 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 (NL) or Expectra (FR) 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.”

Randstad CEO Jacques van den Broek adds: “The acquisition of twago follows our success with RiseSmart, the first step towards offering new services through digital transformation. The addition of technology and business models that enrich our value proposition to clients and candidates is part of our ‘tech & touch’-strategy.” 

Details of the transaction were not disclosed.