Member Article

Online venue marketplace startup takes fundraising to £2m

London startup Hire Space has secured £750k to complete its expansion in the UK and pilot its venue-finding concept in international cities.

Backed by angel investors including TopTable.com founder Karen Hanton MBE, the latest round of funding brings the total investment to over £2m since the startup’s launch in 2013.

Founded by a former teacher and a policy researcher for a London MP, the website started as a way for recession-hit schools and local authority buildings to generate revenue through short term space hire.

It has now developed into a marketplace used by over a million people each year and lists over 3,000 venues including Westminster Abbey, the Tate Modern, The Olympic Velodrome and Hampton Court Palace.

The investment follows a year of rapid growth for the company, which tripled in size in 2015, and will support the preliminary launch of the website in key locations in Asia and North America.

Hire Space co-founder Edward Poland said: “Having launched in three new locations in the UK last year, we are excited to take Hire Space to the next stage in its development. The continued support from our investors will allow us to realise our ambitious plans for international expansion as well as opening up untapped spaces in the capital and across the rest of the UK. London is a key city in the international events market and we’ll be using it as a launchpad to scale the business.”

The London startup specialises in finding unusual venues for events, conferences and meetings and is used by companies including Facebook, Google, Instagram, Red Bull and Accenture to source venues and organise company events.

Co-founder Will Swannell said: “The appetite for a quick and easy way to find and book venues has been phenomenal. This, coupled with increasing competition in this space, has been nothing but encouraging as we prepare for further growth in the year ahead.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .