Recapping on the Techspace journey

After training in Advertising and Communications at University I moved to London to seek new opportunities. In 2011 I found myself supporting startups and creative businesses with web-design and SEO. After working alongside and ideating with other entrepreneurs in London, I began helping out at WhiteSpace; a co-working space for creatives and entrepreneurs in Clerkenwell.

Quite quickly we recognised the demand for centrally located, warehouse-style workspace was an attractive proposition to the creative community, and we launched a sister space in Old St.

By the beginning of 2012, with the arrival of Google Campus, and a whole host of technology companies making the area their HQ, Old St was coined Silicon Roundabout. And it wasn't long before the majority of the demand flowing in was from the tech and startup sector. So much so that we pivoted our branding to Techspace, a coworking space for growing technology teams in the heart of Tech City.

By 2016 we'd grown to a number of East London locations, had traction in the market and showed promising growth. Which allowed the business to take outside investment from Private Equity. We raised £5mm of equity and used this money to continue our growth in East London, with sites in Aldgate East and Shoreditch.

By 2017 we'd seen opportunity further afield, in Germany. Few coworking operators in London had considered an international presence, and the combination of startup scene, characterful factory buildings and high levels of investment activity meant that Berlin was showing strong opportunity for growth. Specifically in the startup scene, with inward investment into the German capital pushing them to the top 3 cities in Europe for investment into technology startups, Berlin was not only great for startups, but climbing the ranks for most attractive places to live, which meant that developers and top talent gave Berlin a great foothold for places to start and grow a business.

By the end of 2017 we'd opened our first site in Berlin's edgy startup district, Kreuzberg, opening a 40,000 sq ft building in phases allowed the business to derisk its cost base and minimise the void as we activated.

By 2020, we'd grown into more locations in London, and signed our second site in Berlin, a former factory building on the banks of the River Spree.

What happened next, no one saw coming.

In early 2020, we welcomed a new CEO to the business, and within three months, the pandemic broke out worldwide and posed a serious threat to any and all hospitality-based businesses. Techspace by this time was operating 5 London sites and 2 Berlin sites, and was approximately home to ~75 member companies.

By reacting faster than others, negotiating hard with our landlords and passing whatever we saved onto our members, we survived. By the skin of our teeth. During 2020 we also opened our second Berlin location, Eiswerk, our largest location to date, opened in the middle of the pandemic! Less than ideal, but we managed.

2021 onwards we were in rebuild mode. Reactivating our buildings and adapting to the new world of work took some time. But interestingly, the need for in-person work didn't decline. If anything more of the office space market saw the advantages of flexibility, and whilst teams needed less space, the breadth of our customer base widened, and with that we began to adapt our proposition. No more did it make sense to cap the size of the team who wanted to work with Techspace.

By updating our criteria, Techspace was now home to pre-seed founders, funded scaleups and successful tech giants. Techspace's offering evolved and we found that the depth of our community proposition also evolved with it. As well as some of the most exciting young startup teams, Techspace also became home to some of the most successful tech companies in the world. Tesla, GoStudent, Samsara, Google, Databricks, Unity Technologies, Vinted are just some of the names we proudly called members, and this trend has continued.

Between 2021 and 2026 the business continued to level up. Taking more premium locations in London in more central parts of town. Adding Old Street, Farringdon, Chancery Lane locations to our portfolio gave rise to the brand, and Techspace began to establish itself as a more serious operator within the sector.

By early 2026, 14 years on, the time felt right to move on to something new.

When we started in 2012, I was 22 years old.

A fresh-faced youngster barely out of university. Back then, it was also a very different business, and a very different market. To think we used sofas we found on the side of the street, and all the member desks we assembled ourselves.

In any case, what we've built since then is something I'm incredibly proud of. From the first site in Old Street to a recognised operator in London and in Berlin, it's been an incredible journey, a huge collective effort, and a lot of fun!

I've been lucky to work in almost every part of the business over the years; with roles that spanned operations, facilities, sales, space planning, product, marketing and more. That journey has shaped how I think about building companies, and more importantly, formed a huge part of my professional life.

For me, the most enjoyable part is working with great people, and watching some of the most innovative founders, companies and teams quite literally shape the world around us. Some of the ecosystems' most recognisable brands were built from a Techspace.