Desana, a UK-based B2B global hybrid workspace software that lets enterprises book flexible office desk space for their employees on the fly, recently announced that it has raised $7.4 million in a funding round co-led by PT1 – PropTech1 Ventures and JLL Spark Global Ventures, with participation from original pre-seed investor Techstart Ventures, BGF and Groundbreak Ventures.
With the funds, the startup intends to expand operations and its business reach, particularly in the US, where they see significant opportunities to develop its enterprise customer list, including Github, Twilio, Sonos, Elastic and Elastic Splunk, amongst others.
Founded by Michael Cockburn, Steve Jeans, and Ro Ramtohul, Desana offers employers on-demand workspace in over 600 cities across more than 60 countries. For the first time, companies can provide their employee’s access to workspace anywhere worldwide while only paying for the exact hours that workspace is used. Companies can also integrate their own offices onto the platform, offering a single solution to the complex task of managing global hybrid working patterns and allowing the tracking of accurate workspace data to support long-term real estate decisions.
Sharing about the company, Co-founder & CEO of Desana, Michael Cockburn, said:
We’ve come a long way from launching our initial product from our living rooms in Edinburgh to working at a global scale with some of the biggest companies in the world as they fundamentally rethink the way they utilise office space. We established Desana ahead of one of the biggest shifts in working culture for generations, and this unprecedented transition has driven a huge amount of growth for us. But, given the scale of the change in this industry, we believe that there’s still so much more to come.
Headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, the company is witnessing significant demand from enterprises wishing to adjust to new, hybrid working modes. Since its launch, the SaaS and marketplace platform garnered reach in North America, with its team now straddling Canada, the US, and its UK HQ. The firm delivers the “future of work” solution globally.
Tanguy Quero, Investment Principal, JLL Spark, commented:
Desana has developed a best-in-class platform to help companies address the challenge of managing a distributed workforce with a hybrid or flexible model. Their solution uniquely combines ease of deployment and scalability for management teams with great user experience for employees.
In 2021, Desana had raised $4 million (nearly £2.9 million) in a seed funding round led by Berlin-based PropTech1 Ventures and BGF. Existing investor Techstart Ventures, along with GroundBreak Ventures and the Accel Scout programme, also participated in this investment round.
