America has a hiring problem. The company hoping to solve it is being built in Miami
Miami — and the rest of the U.S — has a worker shortage problem. With tens of thousands of local jobs going unfilled — and with just as many looking for work — both employers and would-be employees would benefit from a technology that can close the hiring gap.
A new digital platform aiming to put traditional staffing agencies out of business is being built in Miami — with the backing of two of the largest venture capital groups in tech.
The app, Traba, announced Thursday it had raised $3.6 million from a group led by executives at Founders Fund, the venture group co-founded by Peter Thiel and which now has a major office in Miami; and by Boston-based General Catalyst; GC recently opened a new Miami outpost led by partner Katherine Boyle.
Traba co-founder Mike Shebat says the Traba app is designed to connect workers with open shifts at warehouses, event venues, and distribution centers. Traba is free for workers to use; it makes money by charging businesses. Traba’s system screens workers for quality and performs a background check before they have full access to the platform. Both workers and businesses get to rate each other.
Shebat said one big reason why workers are refusing to return to their pre-pandemic gigs is a lack of flexibility.
“They want to be able to work a couple shifts and then not work and take their schedule in their own hands,” Shebat said. “That’s why it’s exciting for us to be building this — we’re coming into a shift in the mentality as white-collar workers are able to do Zoom, and now blue-collar workers want to have that same approach. They want to be flexible.”
For now, the Traba team remains small, with four employees. But Traba believes that as it fundamentally transforms on-demand work scheduling, it will ultimately create hundreds of technology jobs. A former Uber executive, Shebat and his co-founder Akshay Buddiga are both relatively new to the Magic City. Shebat said the feeling in Miami reminds him of how Silicon Valley felt a decade ago.
“The optimism, everyone being so inviting and open-minded, there’s a ton of diversity, including in politics and ideas — it’s a very open-minded and welcoming city. Miami is where to be in the world right now.”
