Virtuzone Leads US$1 Million Seed Funding Round In Hotdesk To Bring Flexible On-Demand Workspace Solutions To The UAE Dubai-based Hotdesk enables its users to search for and book workspaces, meeting rooms as well as private offices on an hourly, daily, monthly, or yearly basis.
By Entrepreneur Middle East Staff Edited by Aby Sam Thomas
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Virtuzone, a firm that provides company formation and business support services in the UAE, has led a US$1 million seed funding round in Dubai-based on-demand workspace booking platform Hotdesk.
Based at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Hotdesk enables its users to search for and book workspaces, meeting rooms as well as private offices on an hourly, daily, monthly, or yearly basis. While the platform's many hosts range from coworking spaces and hotel business centres to vacant furnished commercial office spaces, it also gives existing businesses the opportunity to sublet any vacant and/or underused office spaces in order to gain extra revenue.
AlZayani Investments, a Bahrain-based real estate group, also participated in the round through its venture capital arm, Zayani Venture Capital. Two angel investors, Swvl CFO Youssef Salem, and Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce And Industry Board Member Khaled AlFahim, also invested in the startup.
"We see great potential in the workspace solutions that Hotdesk brings, and these align with our goals to remove barriers to entrepreneurship and make it a lot easier to start and do business in the UAE and abroad," said Neil Petch, Chairman and co-founder of Virtuzone. "With the capabilities that Hotdesk is offering to the corporate market, it can very well become the Airbnb of workspaces."
"In this time of economic recovery, we need to help create opportunities for growth and enable entrepreneurs and SMEs to build a strong foundation for success," added Virtuzone CEO George Hojeige. "We believe the global reach and extensive range of options that Hotdesk offers can help startups, entrepreneurs and global nomads have the full advantages and infrastructure of a traditional office, with the added conveniences of a versatile and agile work environment."
Through its recent endeavor as lead investor in Hotdesk, Virtuzone aims to bring easier and flexible workspace solutions to corporate and entrepreneurial professionals in the UAE to accommodate and adapt to changing work environments in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
"Businesses have become smarter and leaner post-COVID-19, and no one wants a five-year unfurnished lease anymore," said Mohamed Khaled, founder and CEO of Hotdesk. "Plug-and-play scalable workspace solutions are the way forward. Our core mission is to help people unleash their productivity, and give our hosts a chance to better utilize their unused commercial real estate assets."
