by Megan Dunsby Updated: Mar 27, 2019 Published: Oct 13, 2015 The UK's “first” online marketplace for off-site meeting spaces has launched today with £1.2m seed investment from a group of high-profile backers including Unilever board director Ralph Kruger, ex-Dyson CEO Martin McCourt, and former InterContinental Hotels CEO Andy Cosslett. Anand Verma, former global president of IPG Media Brands and CEO of Brilliant Basics, also participated in the round. Intended to make finding, booking and paying for “creative and inspiring off-site spaces really easy”, HeadBox enables those that have a space that is not being used at a certain time to rent it out to corporates and small and medium firms who could use space for a meeting, event, interview, product launch and so on. It has initially launched with over 1,000 spaces across London and plans to add new spaces in London, as well as sites across the UK and international markets. Quintessentially Lifestyle, the global concierge services group, has also been announced as the start-ups first official partner. Andrew Needham, CEO and founder of HeadBox, commented on the launch: “Our platform fills a real gap in the market for finding and booking creative, inspiring and off-site spaces. Our partnership with the Quintessentially Group is part of our vision to build a thriving ecosystem of third party services around the HeadBox platform that will help us make brilliant things happen in the space once it is booked.” HeadBox investor and now chairman, Ralph Kugler, added:“By disrupting the traditional listing approach and being the first to create an online marketplace that cuts out the middle-man, HeadBox solves many of the real pain points when it comes to searching, booking and paying for spaces.”
HeadBox is a new service which intends to make finding, booking and paying for “creative and inspiring off-site spaces really easy”. The firm enables those that have a space that is not being used at a certain time to rent it out to corporates and other firms who need space for a meeting, event, interview, product launch and so on. In addition to the headbox, the company has also launched an online platform where people can search for their ideal location in Dublin or anywhere else around the world.