Gig economy app Takl shuts down after burning through over $37 million in investors’ money

For over three years now, we’ve been tracking tech startups that went out of business and shut down their operations. For some reason, Takl slipped under our radar. Takl was a Nashville, Tennessee-based startup that provided an app that connected self-employed providers with users who need chores and small jobs completed. Takl offers something similar to gig-matching services like Fiverr, TaskRabbit, not to mention tech giant Amazon’s Home Services.

After getting a lot of media coverage and buzz from celebrities, Takl suspended its operation on March 18, 2020, and went out of business. Takl was the latest in a series of celebrity-endorsed startups that failed. Takl blamed the shutdown on the coronavirus pandemic. However, most U.S. businesses impacted by COVID did not shut down until the middle of the summer of last year. Others also disagreed. In a blog post, one person said:

“They spent TENS of millions on Kathy Lee Gifford and endless commercials everywhere advertising a name nobody could spell or remember or even meant much. Everywhere! Until they went belly up and broke! They blamed it on Covid! Here’s a memo from me to them, had nothing to do with covid. Had everything to do with a PIGEON S%%% domain name! They failed before they started. And remember, almost all failure happens at the start!”

According to a message posted on its website at the time, Takl said it was suspending operations effective 5 p.m. March 18, due to “the concern over the coronavirus and uncertainty with regards to when the outbreak will subside.” The statement adds: “All scheduled jobs have been canceled. We appreciate your use of our platform. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

When all the dust has settled, Takl had burned through over $37 million in investors’ money. According to publicly available funding data, Takl had raised over $37 million in total funding.

Founded in 2015 by Greg McCollum, Steve Cohan, and Willis Johnson, Takl app connects customers with gig workers who would perform small home jobs on-demand, such as mowing lawns, hanging light fixtures, and washing decks. Popular chores on its app include lawn & garden care, house cleaning, small home repairs, hauling away boxes & junk, assembling furniture, pressure-washing patios, hanging pictures, and hundreds more.

Below is one of the Takl app commercials featuring former “Today” co-host Kathie Lee Gifford.