TaskRabbit, a San Francisco service-networking startup with roots in Boston, said it has closed $17.8 million in Series B financing led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Previous investors Baseline Ventures, First Round Capital, Floodgate Fund, Collaborative Fund, and Shasta Ventures, as well as other new investors, participated in the round. TaskRabbit announced a $5 million Series A round back in May.
The company, which runs an online marketplace for connecting people who need errands done with “runners” who can get them done, is live in 12 U.S. cities and is looking to expand to more locations, including Seattle, Portland, Austin, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, DC, Denver, and Philadelphia.
TaskRabbit is led by its founder Leah Busque and its recently hired CEO Eric Grosse, the co-founder of Hotwire and former president of Expedia Worldwide.
Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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