London, 6 June 2019 – Huckletree, the workspace accelerator specialising in curated ecosystems, today announces the opening of Huckletree Soho, the city’s first coworking space built with investors in mind, and Huckletree’s first central London location. The site’s four floors are designed to facilitate connections for over 300 members from the global investment, tech and digital communities.
Founding investment funds include Silicon Valley Bank, Sweet Capital, and Concentric, which will be placing functions and roles such as founders and principal investors into Huckletree Soho, to better connect with their portfolio members, serial entrepreneurs and other leading members of the global innovation ecosystem. Founding members also include Europe’s first digital children’s food service, Little Tummy and the new Israeli EdTech concept, Jolt.
“An investor-first workspace designed to help innovative investors build relationships with ambitious businesses has been long overdue,” said Denis Shafranik, Partner at Concentric. “The coworking explosion has created hotbeds of innovation, transforming how businesses meet, grow, scale and fundraise. Huckletree Soho ensures that startups and VC funds will be neighbours, but in a space that provides more privacy than your usual coworking environment, optimising it for deal flows, pitching and nurturing relationships.”
Catering to the demands of the modern worker for workspaces that prioritise their mental health and wellbeing, Huckletree Soho’s in-house learning studio with EdTech partner Jolt is the first for the group and gives members the opportunity to continually upskill with global world-class teachers, while its all-immersive Dreamscape room will feature regular wellness activities and a programme that encourages collective meditation and escapism with gong baths and a 360 sound and visual scape.
The site also sees the opening of Huckletree’s first plant-based cafe with a menu designed by Albi Ison, ex-Ottolenghi chef specialising in vegetarian, vegan and whole foods. Named ‘Ellwood’ after the modernist architect Craig Ellwood, it is the result of demand from investors and startups looking for alternative food and beverage options to traditional communal kitchens in workspaces, and is designed with first meetings in mind – a luxurious, quiet and non-intimidating environment with private areas away from the general public.
“The investment community increasingly wants to be closer to the ideas, and entrepreneurs are looking for better access to capital networks. This led us to design a space with ‘investors first’ in mind,” Huckletree Founder and CEO, Gabriela Hersham explains. “We’ve retained the beautiful brutalist exterior of Ingestre Court and transformed the interior completely into a more intimate and sophisticated space, including our first cafe where investors and startups would be proud to hold their first introduction meetings. Through a strategic partnership with Albi Ison, an exciting and modern name in food, and through our first purpose-built ‘classroom of the future’ with Jolt, our members can experience a unique take on community, growth and holistic wellbeing in the workplace.
“This is the first concept of this kind that we’ve seen in the UK to date, and we’re excited to see the speed of connections, scaling and innovation that will come from neighbouring VCs, specialist funds, EdTech and scaleups in the same environment.”
Nadine Hellmann, CEO at Little Tummy said: “One of the most important steps in starting a business is to build a strong network. Huckletree not only offers a place to work, but more importantly, connects founders with Huckletree’s community of like-minded entrepreneurs, investors and VCs who can help take your business to the next level. As two female founders ourselves, we are also proud to join a community that is passionate about diversity in teams. These are just some of the advantages over other coworking spaces.”
Huckletree Soho’s opening follows the recent announcement of the summer launch of PUBLIC Hall in the UK’s political centre of Westminster. Huckletree’s first collaboration with venture firm, Public, the space is designed to facilitate a closer relationship between politicians, civil servants and technologists.
