The capital will go toward product development and hiring new team members as Meaningful Gigs grows to become the No. 1 remote job and skills marketplace for creatives.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Meaningful Gigs, a marketplace that connects designers in Africa with companies like Starbucks, Meta, and IDEO, has closed a successful $6M USD seed funding round. The seed round was led by Meaningful Gigs co-founders Ronnie Kwesi Coleman, CEO; Steph Nachemja-Bunton, COO; and Max Farago, CTO. Stage 2 Capital came in as the lead investor, with additional significant investments from Rethink Education, Authentic Ventures, Reach Capital, Marla Blow, Zvi Band, and Michele Perry. Meaningful Gigs has raised a total of $7.1M USD to date.
“With the shortage of highly skilled talent and the increasing need for diverse thinking, especially in creative, marketing, and product teams, Meaningful Gigs is solving a huge problem by connecting talented African designers with companies to deliver best-in-class design,” said Stage 2 Capital Partner Mandy Cole. “We’ve been impressed with the Meaningful Gigs team’s focus on providing the best design experience for their clients while providing amazing tools for their designers, and we’re excited to support their journey to become the destination for diverse design talent.”
Founded in 2019, Meaningful Gigs connects skilled African designers with large enterprises seeking high-quality design talent, aiming to create 100,000 well-paid jobs in Africa over the next few years. While working toward this vision, Meaningful Gigs is also contributing to global diversity in design, delivering critical design solutions and talent to enterprises, building sustained economic wealth throughout Africa, and empowering the next generation of African designers.
“The traditional school-to-job pipeline is broken — it’s too expensive, not inclusive, and doesn’t teach the right skills needed to excel in today’s rapidly changing job market,” Coleman said. “By harnessing technology, we are removing those barriers and allowing workers to easily upskill and get hired into good-paying jobs at top companies. Africa’s untapped talent pool is the largest in the world and growing, which means the Meaningful Gigs community will continue to become more and more robust. We are grateful for our partners, who believe in our vision and are invested in positive change.”
ABOUT MEANINGFUL GIGS
Meaningful Gigs is a marketplace that connects skilled African designers with large enterprises. Meaningful Gigs currently supplies talent for companies such as Starbucks, Bloomberg, Facebook, IDEO, and the Gates Foundation, and has a vision to create 100,000 skilled jobs in Africa by 2028. Meaningful Gigs has created a community of thousands of highly skilled, diverse designers for creative, product, and marketing teams. By curating and upskilling its designer community, Meaningful Gigs provides companies with a way to tap into global diversity while also delivering critical design solutions for their businesses. For more information, please visit meaningfulgigs.com.
