Nigerian startup Spacebook is seeing impressive uptake as it looks to digitise the process of hiring space for events, working or living.
Launched in December 2016, Spacebook curates spaces according to their different categories, be they event spaces, office spaces, co-living spaces or warehouses, and displays their price, location and description.
Customers can then book on the platform and pay instantly, or book for an inspection and pay at the venue.
“We are solving the problem of finding verified affordable spaces online easily without having to manually go around searching for them. We are bringing convenience to the searching process while creating a source of income for the space owners,” Spacebook co-founder Aina Tayo told Disrupt Africa.
Uptake has been impressive. There are already 1,000 verified spaces listed on the platform, while in May the startup launched a vendors platform to showcase professionals such as photographers, event planners, comedians and caterers. It has already signed up over 80 verified vendors.
“Uptake has been growing steadily as we currently fine tune our product to meet the needs of our customers,” Tayo said.
“We spotted a gap in the space listing and booking industry. There was no platform that created a one stop experience for the customer, we decided to create that and scale from there.
The self funded startup, which plans to expand across Africa in the future, collects a commission from the space owners when customers successfully book their space on the platform, and has seen revenues grow steadily.
“They have been growing at a steady rate as our bookings have been on an upward climb over time, without a naira spent on marketing,” Tayo said.
“Nigerians are getting used to booking and paying for services online, and how great it can be for their business. Amongst the older generation, adoption has been slower than it would have been in the west. Incentives have been implemented to help foster a faster rate of adoption.”
Spacebook Wants to Help you Find and Book Event Centres in Nigeria
Say hello to Spacebook, one of the online event booking startups.
Founded by a 4-man team, Temitayo Aina and Software Engineers – Oshomo Oforomeh, Tobi Sanya & Segun Oduwole, and launched in December 2016, Spacebook is a platform that allows users book event venues online, across several cities in Nigeria.
Through a large collection of over 1000 event centres listed across 25 states in Nigeria, Spacebook is poised to provide the ease and efficiency that should accompany every booking process.
The platform claims to have a listing that covers every kind of event spaces, from art galleries, lofts and warehouses to banquet halls, rooftop bars and conference centres.
According to the team, “at spacebook, we believe the booking process should be as fluid as possible, we’ve created a comprehensive marketplace of locations for people to search, view and book event spaces. From traditional locations like banquet halls to non traditional locations like art galleries and warehouses and corporate locations like workspaces, or Hubs.”
Spacebook also has a feature that enables users hire the services of event vendors. With a database of event vendors that covers DJ, make-up, bridal wears, guards/securities/ushers, event planners and a few others, users can search based on their location and also book via the platform.
Property owners who have empty spaces can also register on the platform to list their event spaces for free. These listings are then curated by the Spacebook team to ensure only the best spaces are made available to users.