Patch provides neighbourhood spaces for work, community and events, combining shared office spaces with areas for community and cultural activities, local businesses and events. The company operates initiatives including Patch Academy, which runs educational talks, roundtable discussions, networking events, workshops and away days, and Patch Market, which hosts talks, screenings and pop-up markets. The team plans to use the newly raised funds to grow staff and expand its network of spaces. Patch already has a site in Chelmsford, Essex, and is set to open locations in Twickenham and High Wycombe in Summer 2023. More launches are planned for 2023 and beyond, with a stated aim to open up to 100 sites over the coming years. Patch transforms under-used high-street retail and landmark buildings into collaborative cultural workspaces targeting people who want to work near home rather than commute to city centres. Each location will offer private offices, co-working studios, accessible low-cost options and free scholarship places, and will host entrepreneurship, technology and cultural programming. The company targets an estimated 6 million U.K. knowledge-work commuters and plans to operate on monthly subscriptions from those members. Patch says it will open its first site in a Victorian brewery in Chelmsford, Essex in early November and has several more sites planned for 2022, with requests from towns including Chester, St Albans, Wycombe, Shrewsbury, Yeovil, Bury and Kingston upon Thames. The startup also commits to a giving-back model, donating 20% of peak event space hours to local and national community service providers, and already counts Code First Girls and CoderDojo (Raspberry Pi Foundation) as early partners. Patch was founded by Freddie Fforde, with Paloma Strelitz as head of product, and has raised seed funding to support its rollout.

Total raised

$5M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Mar 2023