One to watch
SPCE, the definitive proptech answer to student accommodation, has today announced the closure of a successful round of funding on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs, raising £280,210 for a 20 per cent stake in the business.
With an initial target of £215,000, the campaign closed yesterday overfunding by 30 per cent. This first round of investment will be used to develop the SPCE app before it soft launches to market in late 2017 in collaboration with six of the UK’s top universities.
SPCE is the brainchild of Leon Ifayemi, who was inspired by his own experiences as a student ambassador connecting students with landlords and rental accommodation.
Noting the wide variety of requests and needs, Leon developed a disruptive solution to solve the common problems on both sides of the student rental market. He then joined forces with serial entrepreneur Omar Fahmi, who has almost a decade’s worth of experience in creative design and marketing.
Leon Ifayemi, CEO of SPCE said: “We are really pleased with our first ever round of funding! Being in pre-production, we are delighted that so many people have validated the SPCE concept and recognised the need for real technological innovation in the student rental market.”
This is SPCE’s first round of investment and means the fully working product will be launched in late 2017, avoiding the pitfalls of going to market with a MVP.
Over 250 private investors have invested in the company, most notably Belgian online media entrepreneur and property investor Lorenz Bogaert who put forward £21,499.24 for 1.714 per cent of the business.
SPCE is based in The Shard, with a team of 13 employees, including senior hires from Barclays, Rothschild, and Volume.
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