- RigUp, a marketplace for on-demand services and skilled labor built for the energy industry, announced it raised $300 million in Series D funding led by Andreessen Horowitz
RigUp — a marketplace for on-demand services and skilled labor built for the energy industry — announced it has raised $300 million in Series D funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with participation from existing investors, including Founders Fund, Bedrock Capital, and Quantum Energy Partners. And New investors include Baillie Gifford and Brookfield Growth Partners. In conjunction with this funding round, Andreessen Horowitz general partner David George is joining RigUp’s board.
“Field work, largely performed by a workforce of highly-skilled independent contractors, has typically been staffed through a fragmented network of small brick-and-mortar firms,” said RigUp CEO and co-founder Xuan Yong. “That’s inefficient for the companies that need to quickly staff projects and manage labor costs, and it doesn’t give independent contractors access to all available opportunities.”
Launched in 2014, RigUp now has more than 300 employees across the U.S. And RigUp’s platform matches contract workers with energy companies operating in the upstream, renewables, midstream, and downstream sectors looking to efficiently source and manage skilled trade labor. This year, RigUp will exceed $2 billion in gross service volume on its platform — which is more than a 200% increase from 2018.
“RigUp stands alone in serving the energy labor market with much needed technology and fundamentally allows for better matching of supply and demand, resulting in significantly improved time-to-hire and visibility for both the independent contractors searching for the right projects and the energy companies looking to fill jobs with higher quality personnel,” added George. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Xuan, Mike, and the RigUp team as they continue to scale and expand upon their market opportunity.”
RigUp is on a mission to empower the people who power the world. And the platform offers contract field workers access to the largest network of energy companies, flexible payment terms, and streamlined access to partners that provide comprehensive healthcare benefits and training.
“RigUp is serving a workforce that, up until now, hasn’t been able to take advantage of the expanded opportunities technology affords,” explained RigUp COO and co-founder Michael Witte. “RigUp covers more than 100 energy industry service categories in every oil and gas basin and every major wind and solar region in the continental United States. That opens up enormous potential for workers and for energy companies looking to hire.”
With RigUp, energy companies can source labor through the largest network of qualified workers and ensure workers keep their compliance requirements up to date with a customizable compliance solution. Plus the platform can be used to coordinate payments to those workers via seamless end-to-end payments solution.
“In just a few years, RigUp has established itself as the largest marketplace and provider of next generation labor for contractors, service providers, and operators for the energy sector. As a leading owner of midstream, renewables and utilities assets in the U.S., we believe there is a tremendous opportunity for RigUp to replicate its success in oil and gas and expand into these adjacent verticals. We look forward to working closely with RigUp’s talented team as they broaden the business,” commented Brookfield Growth Partners managing director Josh Raffaelli.
With this round of funding, RigUp plans to use the funding to continue expansion into renewable energy, midstream oil and gas, and downstream operations. And RigUp will also focus on hiring at its Austin-based headquarters and Denver office.
