Wonolo Looks to Hook More Blue-Collar Gig Workers as It Grows On-Demand Staffing Platform
*By Michael Teich*
Silicon Valley is in a race to develop tech that will hook the 60 million American gig economy workers.
Wonolo, a platform connecting on-demand workers with employers, now has an extra $32 million in funding to help win over the on-demand workforce. The company's co-founder and COO, AJ Brustein, told Cheddar in an interview that Wonolo's emphasis on blue-collar employees sets it apart from competitors like Uber, which announced last month it will develop its own on-demand staffing business called Uber Works.
"It's great that Uber is looking at this space. It really validates the opportunity here and shows the way work is getting matched today with traditional staff companies isn't the right way."
But Brustein doesn't consider Uber a competitor, because he says the ride-hailing company is targeting a different kind of worker.
Uber is focusing on restaurants and hospitality, while Wonolo is focused on lighter contract work ー hourly, blue-collar, warehouse-type gigs, he said.
The latest round of funding, led by Bain Venture Capital's Jamison Hill, puts Wonolo's total funding to $60 million. Brustein said the company's business model appeals to investors because Wonolo offers its workers freedom, something he said is hard to find in more traditional jobs.
"Unemployment continues to go down, but people are looking for jobs that offer something that companies aren't providing today, which is flexibility," he said.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
