Hire Space at a glance.

Will Swannell, a Teach First maths teacher at a cash-strapped Paddington school, and Edward Poland, a political adviser working to save recession-hit community venues, started Hire Space in 2011. They worked from a kitchen for six months without paying themselves, planned the platform during a 27.5-hour world-record five-a-side football game, and launched as a social enterprise in 2013 with schools, churches and community centres on the books.

We approached this market from outside it. That’s why we ended up building something fundamentally different from the agencies and platforms already there. Today: ~50 people, £3bn+ in events processed, a 10-year proprietary venue pricing dataset, and 800+ enterprise teams who trust us with the events they can’t afford to get wrong.