Y Combinator-backed Deskimo closed a USD 3M Seed financing round and is now launching in Jakarta as its first expansion market after Singapore and Hong Kong. The Singapore-based startup sees strong demand from companies that move to a permanently hybrid workplace, a shift that is happening all around the world.
Deskimo provides on-demand access to professionally managed workspaces and is targeting the hybrid workforce. As corporate offices across South East Asia continue to run at minimal occupancy and work-from-home remains the norm, companies are turning to Deskimo as an alternative to home offices.
Four months after launching in Singapore and Hong Kong, Deskimo has now closed a USD 3M Seed financing round with the participation of Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital (GFC), Pioneer Fund, Seed X, Starling Ventures, TSVC, alongside other investors from Asia-Pacific, the US and Europe. Deskimo is co-founded by Raphael Cohen, former Head of Asia at Rocket Internet, and Christian Mischler, previously co-founder at GuestReady, HotelQuickly, and Foodpanda. Over the past few months, brands like WeWork, The Hive, The Executive Centre, and Garage Society and many others have joined Deskimo’s mission to provide professional work desks to the emerging hybrid workforce in a flexible format.
“The pandemic has fundamentally changed the corporate approach to work. Finally, employee effectiveness has moved into focus rather than employees’ time spent at the office. However, not everyone has a great home office setup that lets them stay focused on their work” says Jonathan Soh, Deskimo’s Managing Director in Singapore, who is the proud father of a 2 months old baby. “Being able to get out of the house for a few hours to get deep work done without wasting time on commuting to CBD is priceless”, he continues.
“We are literally knocking on open doors”, adds Adrian Ng, Deskimo’s Managing Director in Hong Kong. “Company managers are reducing their fixed office leases and are moving to a flexible arrangement with their workforce. Both win: It unlocks significant cost savings for companies, and it adds flexibility and freedom to employee’s lives.” he continues.
Deskimo is now expanding to Jakarta, Indonesia.
The company expects even greater demand in emerging markets due to traffic congestion and homes where wifi and electricity might not always be stable. Deskimo has partnered with 30+ workspace partners in Jakarta for the soft launch today and expects to add another 20+ locations before the end of the year.
Source Deskimo
