Startups.co, the world’s largest startup launch platform, announced Tuesday, August 11th that they have signed an agreement to purchase Zirtual, the leading platform for connecting fast-growing startup companies with virtual assistants.

This agreement comes on the heels of an announcement by Zirtual on Monday, August 10th that the company would pause operations while it made a transition. The brief outage was due to a capital infusion that the company was counting on for expansion. Startups.co has notified all Zirtual employees, clients and associates that the service will resume normal operations as of Monday, August 17th.

The Zirtual service has grown at a rapid pace, expanding to over 400 Zirtual Assistants (ZAs) in just a few years, servicing thousands of companies, many of whom are startup companies looking to augment their small but growing staffs. According to Zirtual Founder and CEO Maren Donovan, “The decision to pause operations was the most difficult message I’ve ever had to deliver. I have spent every waking hour over the past four years working to build the most vibrant community of empowered workers only to have to let them know at once that we could no longer service them.”

Upon learning of the need to pause operations, Wil Schroter, the Founder and CEO of Startups.co, and a Zirtual customer himself, immediately began working with the CEO and Board of Directors to put a continuity plan in place, and ultimately, begin the acquisition of Zirtual. “As a young company ourselves, having access to a curated on-demand workforce that can help us grow and scale is a huge opportunity. It’s an enormous challenge for the 1 million registered startups that we have across the Startups.co platform, and one that we absolutely can’t see go away.”

Over the next few weeks, Startups.co will work to get Zirtual services up and running. They are currently reviewing the company structure to determine the number of Zirtual workers they will be able to continue employing moving forward.

According to Schroter, “We were happy to step up to keep Zirtual in operation. So many companies depend on their services to keep their businesses running smoothly, and with over $11 million in earnings in the last year alone, the acquisition made sense. Zirtual shares our mission to help empower startups and small businesses to thrive and we’re excited to add their services to our platform.”

About Startups.co

Startups.co is the world’s largest startup launch platform, helping over 1 million registered startups find customers, press, funding and mentors. The Startups.co platform includes Clarity.fm, Fundable.com, Launchrock.com, Bizplan.com and KillerStartups.com.

About Zirtual

Zirtual is a services marketplace that matches busy professionals and entrepreneurs with vetted and trained, U.S.-based virtual executive assistants (“Zirtual Assistants,” or ZAs). From solo entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 executives, Zirtual’s clients choose from various monthly plans to have their own dedicated Zirtual Assistant. ZAs offer services to help professionals save time and boost productivity by performing a wide range of tasks, including different forms of online research, responding to emails, scheduling, event coordination, and much more.