Australia-based B2C talent platform Airtasker announced it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire the assets of Oneflare Pty Ltd, an Australia-based B2C services platform with a strong presence in trades, home improvement and professional services.

The price of the acquisition is AUD 9.8 million (USD 6.9 million). According to the Australian Financial Review, the AUD 9.8 million price is a fraction of the nearly AUD 50 million (USD 35.6 million) it was valued at in 2016 when online real estate site Domain took a stake.

According to Airtasker, AUD 2.25 million (USD 1.6 million) of the AUD 9.8 million (USD 6.9 million) will be paid in cash. The rest will be made up of Airtasker shares, issued at AUD 0.43 (USD 0.31), with 50% placed in escrow for 12 months from issue and the rest in escrow for 24 months.

“Bringing together Airtasker and Oneflare will strengthen marketplace network effects, offering more job opportunities to service professionals (including both independent ‘taskers’ and verified businesses) whilst providing customers with access to a greater range of services, skills and faster response times,” Airtasker stated.

The acquisition of Oneflare will also further accelerate Airtasker's strategic expansion into high value service categories including trades, home improvement and professional services, according to the firm.

Airtasker Co-founder and CEO Tim Fung said Oneflare had 540,000 customers each year and 14,500 verified businesses on the platform.

Fung added, “Together, we can offer our customers access to an even greater range of local services and faster response times whilst creating more job opportunities than ever before. By acquiring Oneflare, we also accelerate a push into higher value service categories including trades, home improvement and professional services to deliver on our mission: to empower people to realise the full value of their skills.”