Appear Here, an online marketplace for short-term retail space, has managed to rake in $12 million in Series B funding. The round attracted the support of Octopus Ventures and Simon Venture Group, along with existing investors Balderton Capital, MMC Ventures, Meyer Bergman and Playfair Capital.
Offering a marketplace for short-term retail space, Appear Here was established in London in 2013 by Ross Bailey (20 years old at the time) with support from Forward Partners, the idea-stage and seed investor that offers operational support to founders that show promise.
Their modus operandi is to connect brands, retailers, designers and entrepreneurs with available space, and make the process as efficient as possible, with everything being facilitated online. First launching in the UK, the company has since expanded to France, and most recently New York in the US.
The funding announcement follows from the firm announcing its expansion to the US, bringing Appear Here’s total raised to date to $21.4 million. Bailey said in a statement:
With our international expansion, we’re excited to continue to build deep relationships in the top retail cities around the world. This is the perfect time for us to scale; we’ve got offices in London, Paris and New York, and now we’re looking forward to launching more tools and opening up new locations for our growing community to take their ideas to the next level.
Rebecca Hunt of Octopus Ventures, who is slated to join Appear Here’s board of directors, also commented on the news:
At Octopus Ventures, we’re focused on backing unusually talented entrepreneurs, and Appear Here is the perfect fit for us. Appear Here entirely transformed the market for commercial rental space. We look forward to supporting Ross and the team in the next stage of their journey.
According to the startup, its marketplace is being used by more than 80,000 brands, including giants like Nike, Loewe, Givenchy, Coca-Cola, Net-a-Porter, and Kanye West, along with a slew of independents, making a success of the entire basis for the startup: lowering the barrier for a brand or startup wanting to have a temporary brick ‘n’ mortar presence. More than 4,000 “exclusive spaces” have been listed on its platform, with Forward Partners also having invested in Appear Here in the past.
