Furthr VC leads €1.1m investment in Galway’s Ronspot
Furthr VC has led a €1.1 million investment round in Galway’s hybrid workplace management platform, Ronspot. The investment, which also included funding from the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) and Enterprise Ireland, will help Ronspot to expand its team and scale globally.
Starting out as a corporate parking management solution in 2018, Ronspot has evolved to a three-in-one space management platform designed to make hybrid working easy, while also supporting efficiency in the workplace. The cloud-based application enables users to book car and bicycle parking, hot desks and meeting rooms, as well as manage visitor requirements and other resources including lockers – all on one unified mobile app. Users can see real-time availability, as well as the bookings of their colleagues.
From three customers in two countries in 2018, to more than 200 customers in more than 30 countries today, Ronspot is on a rapid, upward growth trajectory. The company expects revenues to grow by 400% year-on-year to 2025. The growth has been driven by the widespread adoption of hybrid working models – in a space and workplace management software market that is expected to grow beyond $1.3 billion by 2024 – supported by Ronspot’s continued development of its platform. In the last two years, it has added new features including groups, teams, recurring bookings and single sign-on – resulting in its engineering team more than doubling in the last two years.
On the back of its latest funding round and to fuel further growth, Ronspot will create an additional 10 jobs in the next 18 months, bringing its team up to 28 people. The new roles, based in Galway and Dublin on a hybrid or remote basis, will be in the areas sales, marketing, customer success, data security and human resources. The additional team members will help Ronspot to expand in new and existing markets. It is currently taking part in the Enterprise Ireland ‘Enter the Eurozone’ programme with the aim of establishing a physical presence in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.
The funding from Furthr VC comes from its latest fund, backed by leading Irish technology entrepreneurs and business leaders, as well as Enterprise Ireland. With an emphasis on highly scalable, export-focused software and MedTech companies, the €32 million fund has so far invested in 15 companies and is on-track to invest in up to 30 companies by year-end 2024.
Michael Furey, CEO, Ronspot, said: “Today’s organisations are acutely aware of the need to provide flexible hybrid working solutions in order to retain and attract talent. It continues to be an employee’s market and top talent will leave roles, or accept positions elsewhere, if a company isn’t doing enough to support the work/life balance that they have become accustomed to over the last two-and-a-half years. We recognised this shift early on in the pandemic and have evolved our solution to become an essential tool in any modern workplace.
“Additionally, organisations are starting to review their real estate commitments with an eye on how they can reduce their building footprint and its associated costs, while at the same time increasing their head count with more intelligent management of their office spaces. The days of ‘one desk, one employee’ are a thing of the past for many, so it’s important that these resources are utilised more effectively in the future.”
“Great companies can be born out of uncertain times and Ronspot is an example of this,” said Richard Watson, managing partner, Furthr VC. “Early in the pandemic, the team recognised that the world of office work was changing forever and took the company in a new direction to take advantage of this. We are excited to be leading this investment round and look forward to working closely with Ronspot’s leadership team as we prepare for strong international growth and ultimately delivering significant returns for our investors and other shareholders.”
Stephen Stilliard, chair of HBAN’s WxNW syndicate, said: “Having contributed €400,000 in 2020, angels in our syndicate are once again investing in Ronspot. Angel investors want to back businesses that are built for the future and that is what Ronspot represents. It has recognised, and capitalised on, an exciting market trend and our investors see great potential in that.”
Ronspot has benefited from the support of external agencies including iHub at the Atlantic Technological University in Galway for providing a space to learn and grow, as well as the WestBIC Business & Innovation Centre for its continued support throughout Ronspot’s growth journey. The team also benefited from Enterprise Ireland programmes such as New Frontiers and the Enter the Eurozone.
Reporting: Tech Central