• Huckletree

  Led · Equity · Oct 2017

  Huckletree operates co-working spaces and positions itself as a workspace accelerator, with sites in Shoreditch, Clerkenwell and White City. It recently launched White City and is due to open its first international location in Dublin next month, bringing its global member count to 2,000. The company focuses on finding inspiring locations for future workspaces and aims to triple its membership base within 12 months. Leadership says the new capital will support growth in 2018 and beyond and help scale the brand. CEO Gabriela Hersham described the partnership with Meyer Bergman as strategically complementary, and COO Andrew Lynch said the group is actively looking at locations in Copenhagen, Barcelona and Tel Aviv. Huckletree previously raised £2.4m in a Series A in 2015. Huckletree is a London-based co-working company led by CEO Gabriela Hersham. It offers coworking environments for startups, entrepreneurs and freelancers that combine workspaces with tools and structure to nurture innovation and collaboration. As of the report, the company provides coworking spaces to 200 people in Clerkenwell. Huckletree planned to open a 400-place second location in Finsbury Square in early 2016. The company closed a £2.4m Series A and intends to use the funds to expand its coworking community. Backers included Force Over Mass Capital, two family offices and a small venture capital firm.

• Poq

  Participated · Equity · Jul 2017

  Poq is a London-based startup offering a SaaS 'apps-as-a-service' platform that helps retailers launch and maintain consumer-facing shopping apps. It focuses on pureplay and multichannel brands and counts customers such as House of Fraser, Missguided, PrettyLittleThing, Holland & Barrett, Hotel Chocolat, Fragrance Direct, and Made.com. The company says its platform is proven to increase conversion rates and revenue, with new code rolled out weekly and major releases every quarter. Poq raised £9.5M in a Series B led by Smedvig Capital with participation from Beringea and Revolt Ventures, bringing total funding to £16.5M since its 2011 founding. The new capital will be used to drive growth in the U.K. and Europe and to expand in the U.S., where Poq plans to open offices. The U.S. market currently represents 20% of Poq's revenue. Poq provides a Software-as-a-Service platform for iOS and Android that enables retailers to build shopping apps and receive in-app data insights on customer shopping habits. Its platform ensures apps are refreshed in real time with the latest updates. The company has gained traction with large retailers including House of Fraser, Missguided, Holland & Barrett, and Made.com. Led by CEO and co-founder Oyvind Henriksen, Poq sells its service to retailers and plans product enhancements to allow in-house developers to customize their apps. The company intends to use new funding to expand its customer base among large and international retailers. To date Poq has raised a total of £7M. Poq is a London, UK-based app retail commerce platform led by CEO Oyvind Henriksen. The company provides a platform that allows retailers to create customized native apps to build brands, sell products, deepen customer loyalty and deliver relevant content, communications and rewards. Poq currently powers apps of large international retailers such as House of Fraser, Missguided, Liberty, Holland & Barrett and Made.com. The company raised $4m in a Series A funding round led by Beringea with participation from Seedcamp and Venrex. Poq intends to use the funds to triple its development team and to expand internationally outside of Europe. The financing is positioned to support product development and international growth.

• Appear Here

  Participated · Series B · May 2017

  Appear Here operates an online marketplace to connect brands, retailers, designers and entrepreneurs with short-term retail space, originally launched to serve the pop-up shop market. Founded in London in 2013 by Ross Bailey, the company launched first in the U.K. and has since expanded to France and New York. It operates offices in London, Paris and New York and aims to make booking temporary brick-and-mortar space as frictionless as possible. The platform says more than 80,000 brands have used its marketplace and over 4,000 exclusive spaces have been listed. The startup raised $12 million in a Series B led by Octopus Ventures, bringing total funding to $21.4 million according to CrunchBase. Management says it will continue to scale internationally, launch more tools and open new locations for its growing community. Appear Here is a marketplace for retail space that connects brands with short-term 'pop-up' shops across the UK. Founded in 2012 by Ross Bailey after he launched his own pop-up on Carnaby Street in London, the platform lists over 600 properties available to hire in the UK. In the last 18 months the company says it has transacted over 500 short-term lets and that some 10,000 brands regularly search its database. It has signed eight of the UK's ten biggest retail landlords, including British Land, Land Securities and Hammerson, and has a deal with Transport for London to market space in Underground stations. The new $7.5M funding will be used to expand customer service and a concierge offering, and to develop online contracts and payments. The company previously raised £1M in November 2013. Appear Here operates an online marketplace that lets commercial landlords list short-term retail spaces and enables brands and entrepreneurs to book pop-up shops, product launches and brand showcases. Founded last year by 21-year-old Ross Bailey out of Forward Labs, the startup aims to make renting short-term retail space as easy as booking a hotel room. The company says it has signed up over 3,000 brands and retailers and offers access to a database of 250 spaces nationwide. Appear Here works with property firms such as British Land, Legal & General and Capital & Regional, and tenant customers including Google, Microsoft, American Apparel and Diageo. It currently employs 12 people and competes in the UK with We Are Pop Up and in the U.S. with Storefront. The company says it will use the new capital to scale operations and continue strengthening its technology team to meet increasing demand.

No current team members are available.