Round Two: Lovespace Launches Second Crowdcube Campaign

LOVESPACE, a distinctive storage company founded by Streetcar co-founder and entrepreneur Brett Akker, has recently launched its second equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube. The company debuted its first initiative nearly two years ago and raised £1,562,960, easily exceeding its £600,000 goal with the support of 257 investors. It was named Startup Awards’ Crowdfunded Business of the Year in 2014 and has been recognized by the UK Business Angels Association.

The company stated:

“LOVESPACE is a pioneering by-the-box storage service, founded in 2012 by Brett Akker, co-founder of Streetcar.   We are disrupting the £0.4bn UK self-storage industry, doing to it what Uber did to taxis, Ocado did to supermarket shopping, and Streetcar did to car rental.  Unlike traditional self-storage, you can store from just one box at a time, you only pay for what you store, and you never need to leave your front door. We collect your things (boxes or larger items) from your door, store them in our secure warehouse and return them whenever and wherever you want in the UK. You manage your account online, enabling you to add photographs and details of what’s in each box and to call them back individually at any point.”

Since its previous round, LOVESPACE has achieved the following:

• Delivered strong growth, and increased shareholder value
• Proven demand from five customer segments (urban movers, students, rentysomethings, urban parents, growing businesses)
• Improved the customer experience.
• Tested marginal economics which underpin forecast profitability.
• Built a great team of 25 people

The company noted that this round will be on the same terms as offered to existing shareholders in an oversubscribed private pre-emptive round in December 2015, and will allow the business to accelerate its investment in technology and marketing.

Funds raised from the new campaign will go towards operations through to profitability including capex requirements. Since its launch, the initiative has already secured nearly £170,000. It is set to close at the beginning of June.