Pop Up Shops receives funding
Pop Up Shops has successfully completed a financing round. The online marketplace for temporary retail space wants to use the fresh capital to further develop its marketing and booking platform and thus meet the growing demand.
Pop Up Shops has concluded a so-called post-seed financing round with an unspecified six-digit amount. As founder and Managing Director Chalid A. El Ashker explains in a press release, “existing and new investors from the real estate, retail and shopping center management sectors” have participated.
The start-up's online platform brings providers of free retail and promotional space together with people who are interested in a temporary rental. Contracts and payments are also processed online.
"The seed round enables us to further develop our marketing and booking platform and to meet the growing demand from landlords and tenants," continues El Ashker. COVID-19 is further accelerating this trend. For many retail properties, the building shell rent “over 10, 5 or even 3 years is no longer a viable long-term business model”. Pop Up Shops offer an efficient solution for their flexible and short-term management.
The Swiss space providers include Migros, SBB, Swiss Post, Wincasa and SPG Intercity. "With the tools from POP UP SHOPS, we not only market and manage our flexible promotional and retail spaces more efficiently, but also reach new tenants," said the head of the Migros shopping center, Thomas Meyer, as quoted in the press release. "We can use the time gained for more targeted marketing and improved curation."
The company, based in Zollikon, is not only active in Switzerland but also in Germany, Great Britain and the USA. Together with the cities of Zurich and St.Gallen and the University of Applied Sciences Eastern Switzerland, Pop Up Shops is part of the Pop-up City project funded by the Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse . In 2019, the young company was recognized as one of the most innovative proptech companies of the year at the German Proptech Pitch.