Techspace picks up $7.23 mln

Techspace, a provider of workspaces for tech startups and scale-ups, has raised $7.23 million in funding. The investor was a Goldacre Ventures-managed consortium.

PRESS RELEASE

LONDON – June 21 – Techspace – the flexible coworking space specifically designed for fast-growth tech scale-up companies – today announces a new funding round of £5M ($7.23M) raised through a consortium led by real estate investor and entrepreneur Leo Noé and managed by Goldacre Ventures.

Co-founded by serial entrepreneurs David Galsworthy (CEO) and Alex Rabarts (CTO) in 2012, Techspace not only supports small tech startups, but also larger, more established companies by helping them to bridge the ‘scale-up gap’ through offering sustainable, flexible space that adapts to their growth. Techspace currently houses Virgin Media, Business Insider, Techstars and Squawka among its community of tech startups and scale-ups.

Given that just one percent of Britain’s scale-up population should drive an additional 238,000 jobs and £38 billion to GVA within three years, harnessing this potential is essential for the future of the UK economy.

With space for over 75 disruptive technology businesses and over 1000 members across five locations in London, Techspace has already grown to over thirty times its initial size. The investment will be used to develop its presence in London and Berlin.

David Galsworthy, CEO and cofounder of Techspace comments: “Coworking has already grown exponentially over the past few years. There’s been a huge, global shift towards flexible, collaborative workspaces, particularly in technology. We empower our community to focus solely on growth and innovation, leaving workspace considerations to us. This investment will enable us to continue supporting tech companies in their growth beyond being startups, develop our offerings in London and also expand to Berlin – a destination that makes perfect sense given the city’s established reputation as a hub for technology innovation.”

David Bloom, CEO at Goldacre Ventures comments: “I’m excited by the possibilities Techspace offers for both the property market and London’s burgeoning technology scene. After witnessing the culture Techspace has fostered for scale-up businesses in London in such a short space of time, I think it’s important this expands internationally to drive further technology innovation.”

‘The Scale-Up Report On UK Economic Growth’ By Sherry Coutu (CBE) in November 2014 outlined:
Currently the UK lags behind America and a number of other countries regarding its proportion of ‘scale-up’ companies (i.e. high-growth, rapidly expanding businesses), highlighting a ‘scale-up gap’ that Britain is suffering from
If this gap can be bridged, an additional 238,000 jobs and £38 billion additional turnover could be created within three years of the issue being addressed
By 2034, if the UK’s scale-up potential is met, it could result in an estimated £225 billion additional gross added value (GVA) to the economy and 150,000 additional net jobs

About Techspace
Techspace provides workspaces for tech startups and scale-ups. Designed specifically for scale-up teams, Techspace coworking spaces offer a plug-and-play membership to accelerate business growth.

Applying a pay-it-forward approach, Techspace believes in driving revolutionary efficiencies in building management in order to pass on sustainable offering to its members. By leveraging the worldwide cultural shift into flexible workspaces, Techspace can also facilitate meaningful connections across the globe via its online community. Techspace does not just cater for small startups, it also provides space for larger, more established companies with stronger covenants.

About Goldacre Ventures
Goldacre Ventures is an advisory boutique creating competitive strategies for our clients and driving their implementation. Focused on telecommunications, media and technology, the company takes an imaginative approach to identifying investment opportunities, and actively manages projects to maximise investor return at each stage of the implementation of its clients’ strategies.

About David Galsworthy
With over decade’s worth of international business experience as an entrepreneur David most recently co-founded Techspace with Alex Rabarts in 2012. Previous international experience includes work in China (Microfinance platform 51 Give), India (E-Commerce partnerships via RTN Europe & Seen Digital) and South America, as Executive Director of the British Chamber of Commerce – Ecuador at 22 years old, and from where he began to rollout his first business ventures.

About Alex Rabarts
Alex is Co-founder and CTO at Techspace and is a tech entrepreneur with over 15 years’ experience in software development and user experience. Previously, he co-founded VoucherHub, which was acquired in conjunction with RetailMeNot in 2011. Prior to this, he headed up Product Development at RetailMeNot’s startup incubator, Stateless Systems, and spent seven years developing property portals including Propertyfinder (acquired by Zoopla), realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au (ASX:REA), the largest residential and commercial property portals in Australia.