BT Digital invests £30m in freelancer platform. Which corporate is next to join the trend?
- First of its kind contract means BT Digital has a stake in an IT freelancer talent platform
- The partnership will see Distributed provide on-demand, Elastic Teams™️ in AI, cloud, product, design and more for BT Digital
- The deal highlights BT’s commitment to growing the digital start-up ecosystem
BT Digital has signed a £30m deal with Distributed, a company providing access to on-demand technology freelancers through its Elastic Teams™ platform. The deal comes at a time when BT wants to accelerate its digital transformation through new products and services by rapidly bringing multi-skilled digital teams on board via a project-by-project basis.
The Distributed contract, the first of its kind for BT, secures a board seat and an equity stake in the business. The deal also highlights what could be a bigger trend for large corporates acquiring stakes in recruitment agencies and talent platforms, especially those involving specialised freelancers or in this case, fixed-term contractors.
Mark Murphy, Director of HR, Technology Units at BT will be taking the board seat at Distributed.
Harmeen Mehta, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, BT Digital said, “Our work with cutting-edge start-ups like Distributed will help us extend our internal pool of talent, accelerate the digital revolution within BT and help to make BT, and the UK, a key hub for the digital innovation economy.”
Mehta joined BT from global telecommunications provider Bharti Airtel, where she’s spent seven years as Group CIO, as well as leading their cloud and security businesses.
Cal Adamson, CEO & Co-founder of Distributed, said the partnership represents a “huge milestone” in the use of on-demand talent within enterprise.
This partnership will allow BT to engage the very best talent the world has to offer and will supercharge our mission to deliver independent careers with more benefits than permanent employment through Distributed’s Elastic Team™️ platform.
Cal Adamson, CEO & Co-founder of Distributed
The Distributed partnership is the first output from BT Digital’s start-up amplifier, which aims to grow and scale start-ups with investment, industry knowledge and strategic support.
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