It’s about to get a little easier to complete chores around the house and get tasks done around town. TaskRabbit, a San Francisco upstart, is bringing its brand of errand running to Seattle.
Need help wrapping birthday gifts, hanging holiday lights, raking the yard, picking up laundry or assembling furniture? TaskRabbit is there to help.
The company describes itself as the “nation’s first service networking platform that safely and reliably connects neighbors to get things done.”
The company currently operates its marketplace in Boston, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Orange County. TaskRabbit director of marketing Jamie Viggiano tells MyNorthwest.com that the service will be arriving in Seattle early next year, noting that the top earner in the network pulls in $5,000 per month.
Does the idea sound kind of familiar? Old-timers in the Seattle tech community may recall a similar service that launched during the dot-com boom called MyLackey. The online errand service raised about $10 million, and had plans to expand to 11 markets before it hit the wall.
But some ideas are just before their time.
And that may be the case with online errand services. In fact, Zaarly already operates a similar marketplace in Seattle and other cities — allowing individuals to request services and products. (It was famously put to use by Zaarly co-founder Eric Koester who used it to have a six-pack of beer delivered to a panel discussion he was participating in at the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle).
Zaarly just landed $14 million, and named former eBay CEO Meg Whitman to the board.
TaskRabbit, which is backed by Baseline Ventures, First Round Capital, FLOODGATE Fund, Collaborative Fund and Shasta Ventures, recently named Hotwire co-founder and former Expedia president Eric Grosse to the postion of CEO.
In addition to Seattle, TaskRabbit plans to launch in Portland and other markets soon.
[Editor’s note: GeekWire and MyNorthwest.com are media partners]
