With the pandemic curve decreasing, companies are now slowly returning back to the offices. However, they will have to find a way to change the office spaces in order to maintain social distance for everyone’s well-being. In this regard, London-based Kitt is one such company that is doing exactly that. It finds, designs, builds, and manages workspaces for brands.
Kitt’s tech-driven design and servicing approach have already enabled companies like Oatly, Nested, and PZ Cussons Beauty to deliver on their post-Covid office plans.
Kitt raises Seed fund
In a recent development, the workspace platform announced that it has raised $5M (approx €4.1M) in its Seed round of funding led by Barclay Ventures. With this development, the company says it has raised a total of $7.5M (approx €6.16M) in funding, to date. The round comes at a time where businesses are increasingly seeking space to meet the changing needs of their team.
It was back in 2019 when the company had raised £2M (approx €2.32M) in its Seed round funding led by proptech investor and YOPA’s co-founder Andrew Barclay.
Use of the funds
Speaking on the development, Founder Lucy Minton, says, “Companies across the UK are rushing to get teams back to the office while re-assessing their use of space. At Kitt, we have experienced a 600 per cent growth in revenue since August and we expect this growth to continue as offices navigate and understand the changing needs of their team.”
Despite such growth, Minton mentions that despite the property industry being more fragmented than ever, 88 per cent of landlords have just one or two buildings. This has made the company finding the right office or tenant very difficult. Hence, Kitt will be using this round to further scale its business internationally as well as nationwide.
Office space delivered as-a-service
Founded in 2018 by Lucy Minton and Steve Coulson, Kitt provides a fully customisable workspace solution to growing and maturing companies. It operates a model that connects landlords with tenants directly, reducing void periods and thus delivering significant increases in yields.
The team at Kitt works with brands to find, design, and deliver a bespoke office space that is tailored to their needs and managed for a fixed monthly fee. The company claims its technology has digitised and automated traditional functions undertaken by office and building managers, and has enabled them to transform any office unit into a fully managed space.
Investor and former CEO of Axel Springer Digital, Andreas Wiele, believes, “The office-leasing industry is in need of huge disruption and Kitt will play a key role in changing how the industry operates beyond COVID. By providing a bespoke solution for tenants, they can plan beyond the next six months and navigate their own version of the office of the future. For landlords, Kitt is offering a chance to market space in a new way that enables them to sell offices worth leaving home for.”
How does it work?
Each space is visualised through a fully immersive VR design process before being built around the needs of each business. The company reported that each space is tech-enabled with app-based entry systems, remote receptionists, and security systems, for a seamless tenant experience. Kitt also empowers commercial landlords to offer a bespoke, managed service to tenants who are able to contract servicing partners through Kitt’s vetted suppliers.
Minton adds, “With flexibility at the top of the agenda, collaboration, creativity and innovation will be central to office design in a post-Covid world. Space needs to be able to bring teams together, enhancing wellbeing and re-building company culture. We’re bringing together both sides of the equation to provide the best solution for all.”
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