Smart office startup Managed by Q raises $15M to reject the 1099 economy

New York-based Managed by Q, a “smart” office management service, announced today that it raised $15 million to open a new office in San Francisco — and oppose the 1099 economy.

The contractor economy helped Uber expand its empire from zero to 100 real, real quick. But, this “smart cleaning” startup wants to grow its people-powered, on-demand business by treating its employees like … actual employees.

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“We realized early on that the ‘Uber-for-X’ model wouldn’t work for the business we wanted to build. We knew that the idea of a marketplace of independent contractors could be great in some cases, but it wasn’t a silver bullet, and it wasn’t right for our business,” Managed by Q’s cofounder Dan Teran wrote for Quartz  last month in an article called “NOT UBER; Why cleaners are just as valuable to my startup as computer scientists.”

“That isn’t to say that it wouldn’t have worked, but it wouldn’t be aligned with the company we wanted to build,” Teran added.

The series A round was led by RRE Ventures. Greycroft Partners, Homebrew, Sherpa Ventures, SV Angel, and Steadfast Financial followed. Individual investors ranging from Jessica Alba to NBA commissioner David Stern participated as well.

Managed by Q has raised $17.4 million in funding to date.

The funds from Managed by Q’s most recent round will be used to build the company’s San Francisco team and scale its New York and Chicago teams, as well as bolster the tech behind its operations.