Hotdesk, a Dubai based provider of transformative shared workspace offerings, today announced that it has raised a $1 million seed funding round to transform how people work, Wamda has reported.
The on-demand workspace booking platform enables users to instantly find and book workspaces. Hotdesk’s platform has multiple offerings - desks, meeting rooms and private offices by the hour, day, month, or year. The proprietary technology creates an opportunity for businesses with underutilised workspaces to sublet their vacant office space and generate additional revenue. Hotdesk’s hosts range from coworking spaces, shared offices, hotel business centres, and vacant furnished commercial office spaces.
Mohamed Khaled, the founder & CEO of Hotdesk was recently involved as Director of Finance at Swvl in the Middle East’s first $1.5 billion unicorn to list on NASDAQ through a business combination with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), and was part of the core de-SPAC transaction execution team. Hotdesk has garnered significant talent from PwC, Delivery Hero, Rocket Internet, Google, and Careem - all with the vision to revolutionise how people work.
Hotdesk runs an asset-free model where it does not own or lease any of its workspaces but rather consolidates the scattered market of empty commercial real estate on one platform.
The $1 million funding round is led by Virtuzone, the largest incorporation provider for companies setting up offices in the region. AlZayani Investments, a real estate group with a significant commercial property footprint in Western Europe and North America, has participated in the round through their Venture Capital arm ZVC (Zayani Venture Capital).
High profile angel investors who participated in the round in their personal capacity include Youssef Salem - Swvl’s CFO whose background is in investment banking as Executive Director at Moelis & Company and who was featured in Forbes 30 under 30 earlier this month, and Khaled AlFahim - who is a Board Member in Abu Dhabi’s Chamber of Commerce, Board Member at Berlin’s Black Lane, and Ex-Board Member in Al Fahim Group in Abu Dhabi who own a hotel and hospitality portfolio and are serial startup investors.
The startup was previously backed during its early stages by Flat6Labs, a MENA region accelerator.
Mohamed Khaled, Founder & CEO of Hotdesk said, “We are amidst a pivotal point in history - where work and workspaces are democratised. Hybrid models are the future, and Hotdesk falls right in between giving the comfort of working from home, yet being able to socialise, be equipped, and without the daunting corporate office experience. Businesses have become smarter and leaner post-covid, and no one wants a 5-year unfurnished lease anymore. Plug-and-play scalable workspace solutions are the way forward. Our core mission is to help people unleash their productivity, and give our hosts a chance to better utilise their unused commercial real estate assets."
