Deskbookers announces €1.5M funding to dominate European meeting booking market
Door Deskbookers op 1 December 2015
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS Deskbookers, Europe’s largest flexible work and meeting place booking platform, today announced a €1.5M seed funding round from Berlin’s Point Nine Capital and leading business angels. Launched in 2013 by Frank Derks and Jeroen Arts, Deskbookers provides businesses and freelancers with direct access to search and book thousands of work and meeting places throughout the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. The platform already processes over 7,000 bookings per month and has made almost 100,000 bookings to date and counts companies such as T-Mobile and Uber as its clients. Mathias Ockenfels, Principal at Point Nine Capital, said: "Deskbookers' rapid growth and experienced team set it apart from its competitors and made the choice to invest an easy one. Without taking any previous capital, Deskbookers has already become by far the fastest-growing platform in Europe. We are confident that the team has the drive and expertise to take this momentum and quickly expand to new markets globally." In addition to Point Nine Capital, prominent angel investors Arthur Kosten, former CMO of Booking.com, and Marcel Beemsterboer, co-founder and former CEO of Emesa.nl, also contributed to the funding round. Jeroen Arts, founder of Deskbookers, said: “We are very excited to bring strategic investors on board that have an extensive network and great deal of experience working with marketplace companies. We will use the seed funding to double down on expansion and growth and attract the best talent to our product and marketing teams.” With new technologies allowing employees to work from anywhere, traditional offices are becoming obsolete as SMEs and larger corporations alike increasingly integrate coworking and flexible office spaces into their workplace models. Deskbookers solves the intransparency of the work and meeting space booking market by allowing anyone to quickly and easily book venues in real-time online, on a basis of hourly rates. Additionally, users can make an informed decision when choosing an office by browsing through a review and rating system. In the next year, Deskbookers plans to expand to five countries, including the UK, extend their mobile offering, and add new features to its venue management system.