Vancouver’s Airbnb for Office Space Gets $1.1 Million Funding Round

Vancouver-based startup ShareDesk has raised $1.1 million in funding to aid its Airbnb-like for shared desk space solution. It’s also announcing today the launch of its enterprise solution for serviced office operators, coworking spaces, and enterprise companies, called “ShareDesk Optix”.

The funding round was led by well-known Californian venture capitalist Tim Draper and other investors. The company also added new members to its Advisory Board, including Jared Simon, COO of HotelTonight, Sunil Rajaraman CEO of Scripted, and Raul Vejar, former EVP and COO of SAP, among others.

“Companies are making significant investments in online collaboration tools, cloud, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and other productivity-boosting solutions, and we are perfectly position to address their ‘space’ requirements,” said CEO Kia Rahmani. “Our goal is to eliminate all of the friction that currently exists in finding and accessing space, and empower serviced office operators with the tools to delight their clients and improve the mobile work experience. We’re witnessing the democratization of the workplace and ShareDesk is bridging the gap between the office and the new economy.”

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With their new enterprise solution, ShareDesk said it now supports its network of serviced offices, meeting facilities, and coworking spaces “with the tools to easily manage their workplace and improve the client experience.”

“Optix makes managing a flexible office seamless, mobile, and real-time,” read a release.

With the ubiquity of mobile and the wide-use of cloud-based solutions, enterprise companies have been rapidly evolving their workplace strategy to be employee-centric and efficient. At the heart of this shift is increasing demand for short-term workspace access.

ShareDesk now has a network of over 1,800 locations in 70 countries, allowing mobile professionals to discover spaces to book work and meeting spaces by the hour, or day.

We know of a similar startup in Montreal’s Breather, although it looks like Breather operates via less of a user-based, Airbnb-type model. Instead it works with spaces directly and takes care of all rentals itself, offering the spaces directly to the consumer.

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