Startup Wants to Bring Uber Marketplace Model to Data Scientists

Further evidence of ‘gig economy’ expanding to new sectors

A London-based startup wants to make hiring a data scientist as simple as booking an Uber.

Pivigo is launching a marketplace that will allow smaller companies that can’t afford to hire in-house data scientists or expensive consulting firms to connect with researchers on a project-by-project basis, the company said Tuesday.

The four-year-old London startup, which has around 1,500 data scientists on its platform, previously provided training courses and job boards for researchers looking for full-time positions, with clients including KPMG, Barclays Plc., Marks & Spencer Group Plc. and Royal Mail Plc.

Pivigo’s new online marketplace is the latest example of how the “gig economy” — a term that refers to the way technology is enabling an increasing number of people to work on a freelance basis — is penetrating a range of sectors, from law to accounting to research, where in the past most workers held full-time positions.

The startup is now targeting businesses with between 500 and 1,000 employees, Kim Nilsson, Pivigo’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview.

“These firms typically don’t have any analytic skills in-house and they don’t have huge budgets to spend for KPMG or Accenture to come in and do a big, expensive project,” she said.