London鈥檚 online marketplace for flexible office space Hubble has closed 拢2 million in new investment.听听
It听takes the total investment in the company to 拢10m听as it launches what it claims is the world鈥檚 first hybrid workspace platform.听
听The top-up funding round was led by Pi Labs and existing backers JLL Spark 鈥� the strategic investment venture arm of commercial real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, and Starwood Capital (via Concrete VC).听
With Covid-19 radically transforming the world of work forever and businesses of all shapes and sizes now needing to determine their future workplace strategies, the funding will help to launch Hubble鈥檚 new suite of products aimed at supporting hybrid working.听听
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Hubble saw a 95% dip in office enquiries. But as of June 2021, the company has seen a recovery back to 80% of pre-Covid levels, having adapted to meet the demand for flexible office space鈥攚hich is higher than ever as many businesses shed long-term leases for more flexible and hybrid options.听
With over 70% of new office enquiries asking for a hybrid set-up, Hubble鈥檚 new platform allows businesses to understand how their employees want to work, and then search for, set-up and manage their hybrid workplace in a data-driven way.听
The Hubble platform is made up of four听products, and听enables businesses to figure out the right combination of office and remote work for their team (Hubble Workplace Strategy Tool), find a new office space (Hubble HQ), access a global network of on-demand workspaces (Hubble Pass) and send remote work perks to their team (Hubble Perks).听These can all听be听managed on one dashboard.听听
Hubble鈥檚 office search product, Hubble HQ,听covers over 5,000 office spaces across the UK and it鈥檚 on-demand product, Hubble Pass, is available in 12 countries听鈥撎齝urrently听with 200 spaces, growing by 30 spaces per month.听听
鈥淭he last 14 months have completely transformed the relationship between work and the workplace,鈥� said co-founder and CEO听Tushar Agarwal.听听
鈥淥ffice space is a $22 trillion asset class, which will see听it鈥檚听biggest change in a generation in the next five years. Hybrid working will become the new normal, as employers and employees seek to find the right balance between office and remote working.听听
鈥淲e鈥檙e proud to have been continuously backed by the biggest听proptech听investors in the world, to make hybrid working easy and accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes.鈥�听
Hugo Silva, Investment Manager at听PiLabs,听commented: 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing a huge shift in the future of work. 老九品茶es want to be able to transition to a hybrid working model, but this is new and difficult for many.听听
鈥淲e鈥檝e been seriously impressed with Hubble鈥檚 ability to deeply understand a new customer problem and use their foundation as pioneers in the flexible office market, to build a solution that makes hybrid working easy.鈥�听