SPCE (company)
SPCE is a company and property rental mobile application specifically designed to connect students with landlords.
Partnered with some of the UK’s universities, the SPCE app enables students to secure properties in the UK from anywhere in the world – removing the hassle and high costs both international and British students encounter when finding a place to live at university.
SPCE keeps the whole renting relationship online in the app, even after the contract has been signed. All communication is saved within the chat feature for future reference and SPCE will step in as an impartial mediator if disputes last for more than 72 hours.
The SPCE app also includes a rating system for both landlords and students.
History
SPCE is the brainchild of Leon Ifayemi, who was inspired by his own experiences as a student ambassador where he helped connect students with landlords and rental accommodation during his second and third year at university Through speaking to students, landlords and others involved in the market, he found there were several common problems – including disputes around deposits, housing repairs and tenancy liability. He saw a space in the market for a truly disruptive solution and wanted to be the person to bring this to fruition.
Leon met Omar CMO and co-founder through a mutual friend at Barclays and after working on another project together they knew they had hit upon something special. After discussing the idea of SPCE they spent six months working on the brand’s overall design and business model.
In January 2017 SPCE established their headquarters in The Shard and a development base in Huckletree, Shoreditch, where a team of developers are working to build and hone the SPCE app before its soft launch in late 2017.
In May 2017, SPCE closed its first successful round of funding on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs, raising £280,210 for a 20% stake in the business. [Please see Growth and Funding for further information]
Following a competitive pitch in June 2017, SPCE was accepted to the CMS equIP programme, designed to give young businesses access to the legal advice they need to scale.
In the same month, SPCE also established a number of key partnerships. The first with publishing group TPG UK – owners of Tech City News and Property Wire – to secure 5,000 rooms for the 10,000+ students across the UK already signed up to the SPCE platform. SPCE then also partnered with Student Problems and the Tab – the largest online student communities in the world – to grow its community of student renters and encourage student app downloads.
Products And Services
The SPCE mobile application is available on iOS, Android and as a desktop website. Once students have inputted their university ID and guarantor details which caps the rental price per month, the SPCE app lists all available properties within their catchment area that meet their requirements. Students are also able to link their profiles with friends so they can search for properties on the app as a group.
Once searching, the SPCE app gives students detailed information about available properties, including landlord ratings which reflect on cleanliness, efficiency of repairs and the location of the landlord.
The in-built chat feature establishes a direct line of communication between student and landlord which is available throughout the tenancy. This enables students to raise issues around repairs in a neutral forum.
The manage feature incorporated into the SPCE app allows students to review landlords, housemate details and manage their rent.
Landlords can list their property on the app in just a few minutes and gain access to thousands of potential tenants – listing is free and enables transactions between students and landlords by charging a service fee between 3% and 6% of each transaction.
Once their space is listed, landlords receive direct messages from interested students and can review all student ratings, pre-approved payment methods and guarantors before deciding to message back. They can then decide to secure a tenant via the in-built chat feature.
The manage feature enables landlords to review tenant’s details, manage fees, chat to tenants or even list a new property.
Growth And Funding
SPCE is based in The Shard, with a team of 13 employees, including senior hires from Barclays, Rothschild, and Volume. In May 2017, SPCE announced the closure of a successful round of funding on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs, raising £280,210 for a 20% stake in the business. With an initial target of £215,000, the campaign closed overfunding by 30%.
This first round of investment is being used to develop the SPCE app into a fully working product before it soft launches to market in late 2017 in collaboration with six of the UK’s universities.
Over 250 private investors have invested in the company, most notably Belgian online media entrepreneur and property investor Lorenz Bogaert who put forward £21,499.24 for 1.714% of the business.
Following the huge success of the first raise, SPCE is beginning to position itself for a Series A funding round in January 2018. SPCE intends to raise £6 million and will look to raise £1.5 million capital from private individuals via Seedrs and £4.5 million from Venture Capital and private equity.
The VC capital raised from the Series A funding will support SPCE’s Artificial Intelligence initiative, which will be run in collaboration with IBM and some of the UK’s universities. The funding will also contribute towards onboarding more landlords and students to the platform.