Edinburgh coworking start-up raises six-figure sum

Representatives from Desana and TechStart Ventures including Mark Hogarth (far left) and Michael Cockburn (centre). Picture: Euan Gilmour.

A start-up founded in Edinburgh that is to launch at the end of this month, giving subscribers access to a UK-wide network of quality workspace, has closed a six-figure seed round with Techstart Ventures.

Desana – which now also has a base in London – says it is the first UK-based platform designed to give organisations and individuals by-the-hour access to a network of co-working workplaces through a single monthly subscription.

The £550,000 investment will enable it to grow its existing network of instantly accessible work spaces across Britain as well as beginning to position the network overseas.

Desana aims to bring subscribers “seamless” access to quality workspaces. Its longer-term ambition is to rethink how people access the places they work, “ultimately fitting with the Smart City agenda’s of many of the world’s largest and most congested metropolises by optimising how people use and access workspace in general”.

Michael Cockburn, co-founder of Desana, said: “The idea for Desana came from our own experience of working from home – like many flexible workers, my co-founder and I realised while working from our kitchen tables that we missed the camaraderie of an office space and in so doing we spotted the wider corporate opportunity.”

Mark Hogarth of TechStart Ventures said: “The upcoming launch of the Desana platform is just a first step towards enabling a radical change in how organisations and people interact with their workplaces.”