U.K. Startup SkillFlick Opens Its Doors As A Marketplace For Local Services

SkillFlick is a U.K. startupwith the self-described aim of buildinganAirbnb for local skills. The site was founded two years ago, launching in beta in January 2013 and is just opening up fully to the public this month.Its bootstrapped and is actively looking to raise a seed round now. TClast came across the startup pitching at ourLondon meet-up back in July, when we described it as as an Amazon marketplace but for local services.

What exactly is SkillFlicksproposition? Itwants to be a localservices marketplacewhere people with some kind of abilityto offer others can sell their talent as a service in their community.

There are millions of incredibly talented people whose skills are undiscovered, says co-founder and CEO Ryan Perera. We are creating a website where any skilled person can have a web presence, be discovered and have an online store to sell their services. We want to help them make money doing what they love. This means a talented local baker could sell cupcakes online, a local piano teacher or DJ could receive bookings online.

The site currently divides offers into four main categories: services, lessons, food & drink, and custom goods. And then subdivides within those to cover a range of services, from cleaning and handyman repairs, to language andacting lessons, to baking, event catering and even customised jewellery.

The mix is eclectic as youd expect with a horizontal platform thats aiming to be an umbrella portal, rather than a niche specialist in any one area but theunifying thread hereis youre buying local. Whether thatsa strong enoughpullto draw inenoughtractionremains to be seen.SkillFlick iscertainly not there yet albeit, its beenbuildingin stealth for the past two years, and is only now starting to shout aboutitsproposition.

There is no easy way to discover or compare services and prices offered by local skilled people,arguesPerera. Google is an inefficient and fragmented solution to this, e.g. searching for piano lessons would give a variety of results, which are not sortable by distance, price or reviews.SkillFlickwill be the one place where you can compare prices and services and book online.

Some of the individual skills currently being offered for sale on the site include a barista selling lessons in making the perfect cup of coffee, a baker doing classes in vegan Victoria sponge-making, house andcat sitting services, and language lessons inFrench, Spanish or Russian.

Users can browse offersandbookany servicethat takes their fancy through SkillFlicks platform.The startupguarantees a refund if the seller fails to deliver the service. Details of how to collect a service are included on the items profile and might include meeting the service seller in their local area or asking them to come to you. Its entirely free for sellers to list their services butSkillFlickcharges a 10 percent commission fee for services booked throughits platform.

The site has around 300 service providers signed up currently and thats somethingitslooking to start ramping up now that its exiting beta, according to Perera.Initially we handpicked and invited the best sellers in London based on word of mouth and using our in house research to manually reach out to sellers and invited them on an invite only basis, he says.

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U.K. Startup SkillFlick Opens Its Doors As A Marketplace For Local Services