eHarmony for gigs: AngelList founder contributes to $2.1M investment in Crew

Gig-matching service Ooomf is changing its name to Crew and announcing a new funding round of $2.1 million with participation from AngelList founder Naval Ravikant.

And it’s bragging a little on its current revenue run rate.

“Over $3 million in short-term projects have been approved and matched in the last year,” founder Mikael Cho said in a statement. “Almost half a million dollars in projects are now being run through the site monthly.”

While still small, Crew is different from other gig-finding services such as oDesk or eLance or Guru. Rather than allowing open bidding on projects, Crew matches projects and teams according to its own internal standards. That results, Cho says, in better project quality than a competitive race to the cheapest price.

Above: A screenshot from Crew

Image Credit: John Koetsier

In addition, Crew focuses on projects, which might require just a single developer but often require a team — something else you don’t often find on other sites.

Ooomf, now Crew, has pivoted a couple of times in its two-year history, originally starting as a service that helped mobile developers build a following and helped potential customers while they were building their apps. The company came within a few months of running out of money pursuing that first plan before pivoting into a dating service for people with projects, and the people with technical skills to make them happen. Cho, however, has kept his nose to the grindstone following the money, and seems to have successfully reinvented his service.

Crew promises to match projects and teams fast: in less than a day. And, Crew promises better quality than competing services.

“At Crew, we envision a system that values the results of the work done, not just the dollar price,” Cho said. “Where project owners receive quality results, professionals are paid what they’re worth, and exceptional products are created.”

The lead investor in the round was Atlas Ventures. Other investors included AngelList founder Naval Ravikant, Real Ventures, iNovia Capital, and Boldstart Venture Capital.