Michael Jordan is one of several individual investors and venture capital firms that recently invested in the Series B round for Gigster, a platform that connects companies with freelance software developers and engineers for project-based hires, according to an announcement.
Redpoint Ventures led the round with contributions from VC firms Andreesen Horowitz and Y Combinator, but Jordan joined Marc Benioff and Adam D’Angelo as new investors in Gigster, which was founded in 2013.
In total, the contributions from individuals and firms totaled $20 million and put Gigster’s total funding between Series A and Series B at $32 million, according to Forbes, which also has Gigster listed as one of its 2016 Next Billion-Dollar Startups. Forbes also predicts that Gigster’s 2017 net revenue will top $50 million, an encouraging sign for early investors.
“Since the invention of computers, new technologies have made programming languages exponentially higher level,” Gigster co-founder Roger Dickey told TechCrunch. “These shifts, combined with the ‘future of work’ accelerants such as freelancing and AI, have changed software engineering dramatically and will continue to do so.”
TechCrunch also reported that the freelancing platform went from three to 40 enterprise customers since its Series A round last year. With the capital infusion from this round, Gigster hopes to add 100 full-time employees to its current staff of 60, the official announcement said.
Redpoint was asked by Gigster to lead the round because of its expertise in software-as-a-service, TechCrunch reported. Dickey said in the article that Gigster plans to eventually introduce an SaaS business as well. “It’s not going to happen immediately after the B round, but on top of selling [freelance development] services, we may sell some SaaS-based products as well,” Dickey told TechCrunch.
Jordan’s involvement isn’t so much about his financial investment, but rather about his presence and potential brand influence. Dickey told TechCrunch that Jordan didn’t put a lot of money into the round, but that “We thought it’d be cool to have someone involved that we really look up to.”
Jordan owns the Charlotte Hornets, and according to Business Insider, his investment in Gigster represents one of his first investments in the tech industry. If Gigster’s current success in any indication of its future, Jordan’s investment may turn out to be lucrative.