A sign that equity crowd financing is taking off in the UK is the news that NearDesk — a startup that offers touch-out and rent desk and meeting space by the hour at different locations all around the UK – has broken the record for the amount raised on the Seedrs platform. Originally NearDesk was looking to raise £600k, but it’s busted that limit, raising just over £1m.
On NearDesk, users only pay for the time spent with a member card, with a single monthly invoice issued per company, rather than having to deal with multiple companies. The service appeals mostly to freelancers and independents.
Over 500 investors piled into the fund-rising round, with the biggest single investment £75k. They clearly agree with the startups’ view that there’s a societal change going on which means people are just not needing to us offices as much as they used to.
NearDesk also hopes to see of competitors such as YourWorkspaces, LiquidSpace, HandyForWork, WorkSnug, ShareDesk by using a revenue sharing business model with venues.