Gigster, a San Francisco-based online platform focused on providing tech talent, was acquired by Ionic Partners, a private equity firm based in Austin, Texas. The companies also announced Andy Tryba will now serve as CEO; Tryba is co-founder and CEO of Ionic Partners.
“Gigster has built an unbelievable platform that dramatically speeds up enterprise software development by utilizing amazing talent from Silicon Valley and the globe,” Tryba said. “We believe we can speed this up another 10x by utilizing modular offerings on top of the Gigster platform.”
In the announcement, Gigster reported developers in its talent network come from universities that include Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Caltech. Its client companies include Google, Facebook and Tesla.
Gigster was founded in 2015 and backed by investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, Greylock Partners, Sound Ventures, Y Combinator and others. Famed basketball player Michael Jordan had been an investor in the company, according to reports.
“Custom software is essential for every business,” Gigster co-founder Roger Dickey said. “I founded Gigster to revolutionize how custom software is built — making it faster and easier — using new techniques and the best developers from Silicon Valley and around the globe. I’m excited to see Ionic Partners take this vision to the next level.”
Ionic Partners’ team includes experience software operators. Tryba’s experience includes serving as founder and CEO of several companies, including RideAustin, a former nonprofit rideshare provider.