With substantial market growth and demand from companies, Beloshapkova was able to attract the first small investments - a total of $100,000 from the New York Chai Angels fund ($50,000 in May 2020, the same amount in April 2021). The startup's assessment in the last round was $12.6 million, says Beloshapkova. The fund decided to invest because it considered fresh connect “a very effective solution that many companies will want [to acquire]," Chai Angels investor Rajiv Kapoor told Forbes. According to Beloshapkova, fresh connect raised money in the safe note format (an agreement with the possibility of obtaining a share in the startup capital in the future). Beloshapkova used the funds to improve the software, expand the team and attract customers. From July to the end of 2020, fresh connect brought in $375,000 in revenue, says the entrepreneur. Operating profit was about 50%, and it was fully invested in growth. And from January to May 2021, revenue amounted to another $625,000.
The company has equipped with its devices the various European offices of the advertising network Httpool, Leroy Merlin, Twitter, Spotify, and the American office of the neurobiological startup Neurable. The new monetization system helped to increase the indicators: from May 2021, the project began to take from $3 per job per month, and the equipment was installed free of charge. “Thanks to this, even small companies for which we were previously too expensive were able to start working with us," says Beloshapkova.
At the beginning of the year, the startup changed its name to inspace, as fresh connect in the US market was associated with fresh food products. At the same time, the team began to attract the "first full round" - for $2.5 million. The entrepreneur has not yet disclosed the expected composition and details of the round but specifies that it will close it in the second quarter of 2021. “The project is worthy for us to study it more closely," a partner of the Leta Capital fund said in an interview with Forbes, refusing to give detailed comments. “The hybrid office market is changing. Large companies like Google or Twitter are becoming clients of such projects," Denis Efremov from Fort Ross Ventures commented on investor interest in inspace.
In 2021, Beloshapkova expects to reach a revenue of $3.6 million. Efremov considers these plans quite realistic. The market itself drives the project, and he says: “In the Facts & Factors study, which was conducted before the pandemic, the flexible office market was valued at $32 billion in 2019 and was expected to grow at an average annual rate of 18% until 2026 to $107 billion. that growth can be much more tremendous, and on this wave, inspace can also grow significantly."
Forbes Author: Ksenia Demidkina