Appear Here is the largest online marketplace for short-term space. Appear Here allows Landlords to list their empty space on the platform, and brands to book it, as easily as booking a hotel room. Hailed a "Digital game changer for the high street" by The Guardian, Appear Here, raised $10 million in VC funding from the previous backers of Hailo, Pinterest, Spotify and Trivago.
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Appear Here Story
In the Summer of 2012, Ross Bailey and a friend decided to create a brand called Rock and Rule to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. They opened a pop up shop on Marshall Street, Soho to launch it. What surprised Bailey was that almost as many people coming in to buy his Lizzy Stardust T-shirts were coming in to find out how he got hold of the space. Bailey realised that something had to be done to make it easier for these sorts of people to access short-term space. When Rock and Rule closed, Bailey took his share of the profit and put it into launching Appear Here.
Currently, Appear Here lists over 3000 short-term spaces worldwide, they have prime retail properties in major cities such as Bath, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Paris and Manchester. Over 55,000 brands have signed up to the platform. With brands such as Google, Apple, Moleskine and Diageo as well as smaller independents and entrepreneurs such as Stylist (magazine), Finery London, Away and Candy Kittens – founded by Made in Chelsea’s Jamie Laing all using Appear Here to launch their ideas.
Expansion
In November 2013, Appear Here closed a £1 million funding round. Securing backing from Howzat Partners (backers of Trivago), MMC Ventures (backers of AlexandAlexa) and Forward Investment Partners (existing investors and backers of uSwitch and Hailo) took part. Other participants in this round include Meyer Bergman, Playfair Capital and Ballpark Ventures, as well as Marc Hazan (of Spotify) and Miroma Ventures (investors in Pinterest). In November 2014, Appear Here raised a further £5 million from Balderton Capital to fund its international expansion. In 2016, Appear Here launched in its first international city, Paris.
Services
Appear Here makes it easy for brands, retailers and entrepreneurs to rent short-term space. Over 55,000 brands and businesses have signed up to Appear Here, giving them access to over 3000 high-quality spaces. The website allows the whole booking process to take place online, which speeds up and simplifies the process of renting space.
Appear Here aims to be more than just a listings site, it also provides resources to inspire and educate their users. Appear Here curates Destination Guides to help people discover more about the right area for their brand, and more recently launched Collections, which make it easy for brands to search for spaces of a certain type e.g. Market Stalls, Rooftops, Galleries. They provide a series of How To Guides to give their users the most up to date information on setting up shop.
Transport for London, March 2014
TfL appointed Appear Here to introduce pop up shops across its retail estate, including key underground stations such as, Piccadilly Circus tube station, Baker Street, Old Street Station, St. Paul's tube station and Leicester Square. As part of this new partnership, Appear Here took an active role in the curation of Old Street Station transforming it into a new retail destination, curated through Appear Here, creating a new retail destination dedicated to pop-up retail. In 2015, Appear Here was awarded Property Week's Placemaker award for Old Street Station. [1].
EE (telecommunications company), July 2014
Appear Here partnered with EE to launch the Pop Up UK campaign. To provide UK businesses with a better insight into the opportunity of pop up shops, Appear Here partnered with EE and the CEBR to investigate the UK pop up retail industry, its contribution to the economy and the barriers it faces.
The research revealed that the UK pop up economy is set to grow by 8.4% over the next 12 months, more than double the growth rate of the traditional high street. However, it also showed that this growth could be higher if barriers to pop up retailers such as the lack of technology and retail space were removed.
Over the next 3 years, the Pop Up UK campaign seeks to help over 3,000 pop up shops with technology and business advice.
Topshop, September 2015
Appear Here partnered with TOPSHOP TOPMAN in 2015 to list concession space in their flagship store, 214 Oxford Street. This was the first time that concession space within the store was made available to be booked online. There are over 20 spaces available to rent on appearhere.co.uk. The spaces include market stalls, residence walls, retail and event spaces. TOPSHOP TOPMAN is looking for the most exciting brands, independent designers, and undiscovered entrepreneurs to book a space, share an idea and create a moment.
Awards
January 2014, Ross Bailey named one of Drapers 30 under 30 Next Generation
February 2014, Appear Here listed in Everline Future 50 Businesses
March 2014, Start Ups listed Ross Bailey as one of their top 20 young entrepreneurs
May 2014, Appear Here listed as one of Start Ups Top 100 companies
August 2014, Appear Here listed as one of Wired (magazine) 100 Hottest Start Ups
December 2014, Appear Here listed as one of Financial Times most disruptive companies
April 2015, Appear Here is given Property Week's Placemaker Award
November 2015, Appear Here is named Start Ups Business of the Year
January 2016, Ross Bailey is named one of Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneurs
February 2016, Appear Here is named one of Bloomberg's most innovative UK companies