PropTech start-up Hubble has raised £1.2m in a funding round to build the world’s first digital commercial property advisor.
The round was led by Firestartr (TransferWise, Second Home, Peak, Urban Massage) with participation by leading investors in the real estate and technology sectors, including 500 Startups (Makerbot, Twilio), Maxfield Capital (eMoov, Patients Know Best), Funding London (Mayor of London’s venture fund) and Concrete, the PropTech fund backed by Seedcamp and Starwood Capital.
This round follows a £500,000 financing round completed by Hubble at the end of 2014.
Founded three years ago by chief executive Tushar Agarwal, chief technology officer Tom Watson and Rohan Silva, former advisor to David Cameron, Hubble started out by helping small start-ups find spare office space. The platform now has more than 30,000 businesses signed up, with more than 20,000 desks available to rent on a flexible basis across London. The company has helped brands such as Monzo, Ministry of Sound and Funding Circle but is also increasingly working with blue-chip corporate firms such as Jaguar Land Rover, Mouchel and Aldermore Bank.
Agarwal said: “Brexit has been a boon for us, as SMEs that would traditionally sign long-term office leases are now coming to Hubble to look for flexible terms as a hedge against the uncertain economic environment. Office landlords are being forced to find innovative ways to generate income as long-term traditional leases fall out of favour.
He added: “Hubble is the driving force behind a trend that is seeing traditional commercial property agents quickly becoming obsolete. As technology has enabled the number of freelancers and SMEs in the world to grow at an unprecedented rate, they are rapidly displacing Fortune 500 companies from the physical real estate they traditionally occupy – the bread and butter of traditional agents. The economics of the labour-intensive model of property agents just don’t stack up with the future of work.”
Hubble: disrupting the role of commercial property agents
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