An existing investor, global accelerator “Antler” operating in Sweden, and Swedish and Lithuanian business angels also participated in the investment round. The investment will be used for team development, platform improvement and integration of retail partners in Lithuania, Sweden and Poland.

“The gig economy sector in Europe is growing extremely fast. It all started during the pandemic, and now with Europe going through a war and a huge influx of refugees, we feel that we are not only creating an exceptional technological solution, but also participating in an important social transformation of the labor market. Our service empowers more vulnerable social groups – youth, refugees, seniors – to earn extra, while addressing sensitive issues in the retail sector. We are happy to have successfully attracted an investment that will allow us to develop the temporary work platform even faster,” says Paulius Vėželis, CEO of the startup.

The founders of Traxlo, Paulius Vėželis and Almantas Zemblys, are developing a mobile application that will enable any resident of Lithuania and Sweden to earn from small, one-time jobs in grocery stores near their place of residence. In the mobile application, it is possible to monitor in real time the tasks of shelf maintenance, unloading of goods, checking the expiration date of products, and similar tasks. The reward for a larger task can reach 40 EUR.

In times of general shortage of workers, the benefits of the “Tasku” application are also understood by merchants, who actively connect to the platform created by the startup and offer jobs in real time to people living near one or another network store. “Today we already have contracts with several Lithuanian retail chains and product manufacturers, soon more and more residents of Vilnius and other cities will be able to work by performing tasks in the shops in the neighborhood. Our plans include a large part of the European market, so we are actively developing cooperation with Scandinavian and Polish retailers. We are already working with the Swedish “HonestBox” network, the “EVERY Where Retail” platform, and we are planning to launch the Swedish network with others”, says Paulius Vėželis, one of the founders of Traxlo.

One of the largest Polish retailers, Żabka, was also interested in this platform developed by Lithuanians. The company was selected and currently participates in the Żabka Future Lab program, which is curated by the Huge Thing venture capital fund and the Żabka Group retail group. The purpose of the program is to select young regional technology companies with the most promising innovations, which will be given the opportunity to test solutions on the Polish market. Żabka Group operates 8,000 conventional grocery stores and has Europe’s largest chain of cashless stores, Żabka Nano, which outnumbers even giants such as Amazon and its Just Walk Out grocery chain.

“The economy of gig workers will transform the retail market, new store formats are already emerging today, where customers shop by themselves without the help of salespeople, or couriers collect and deliver goods to customers. In such a fast-changing market, flexible gig work methods are the future of the market, and solutions like “Tasku” are a real salvation for merchants who are struggling to find new employees,” says Kasparas Jurgelionis, managing partner of Iron Wolf Capital.

“We are happy to have found investors with the same values. It is important for us to combine technological innovation with an important social aspect of the project. By providing new opportunities for flexible work, we promote the integration of local communities and contribute to the reduction of social exclusion. The latest technologies must make people’s daily lives and work easier, so we will focus all our attention specifically on the social aspect of our platform, so that the benefits of innovation can be felt by members of society with fewer employment opportunities, especially during this difficult period for everyone”, says Paulius Vėželis, co-founder of Traxlo.