We Are Pop Up, the community marketplace that connects brands and businesses with short-term retail properties in the UK, has raised further a funding round of €497K, led by Arts Alliance ,with participation from UCL (Update – April 2023: The startup seems to be no longer in business under this website, and we therefore deactivated the original link).
The London-based startup was founded in 2012 and has over 3,500 registered users signed up, from small internet entrepreneurs to global companies. There are over 120 properties currently available on the platform.
We Are Pop Up is a double-sided marketplace, with its primary revenue channel based on subscription and transaction fees. Other revenue channels include a portfolio of value-added services for both landlords and brands.
With one in seven shops on the UK’s High Street currently lying vacant, We Are Pop Up allows potential tenants to find available locations for short term shops, restaurants, art projects and one off events, while giving landlords an efficient way to access a fast growing source of new tenants. Many properties lie boarded up because the current commercial property model is outdated and only deals in years, not months or weeks. We Are Pop Up enables both property holders and tenants to experiment with filling shops in a different way and over a shorter term.
Thomas Hoegh, Founder and CEO at Arts Alliance, said, “In the same way that former Arts Alliance companies lastminute.com and Lovefilm transformed the travel and film spaces respectively, we believe We Are Pop Up will bring fresh dynamism and innovation to the High Street. The team at We Are Pop Up bring the speed and flexibility of web distribution to retailers, giving them the opportunity to try, test and build faster. It is a disruptive approach that will bring new business to landlords and provide greater choice to consumers.”
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