The archive · Consumer Apps · Strategic decision · 2014–2024
Second Home's design-led coworking bet: £60M+ raised, 2024 administration, prepack buyout
Rohan Silva and Sam Aldenton's design-led coworking brand raised £60M+, lost money expanding to LA, and hit administration in Dec 2024.
Second Home
What the business is
London-founded, design-led coworking operator that rented architect-designed spaces — SelgasCano interiors, plants and colourful pods — to startups and creative businesses in London, Lisbon and Los Angeles.
Starting capital：Over £60M raised from Index Ventures, Atomico, Yuri Milner, Tencent president Martin Lau and former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill by 2019 (Financial Times via BusinessDay), including a £20M round about a year before Oct 2019; Riaz Valani put £7.8M into a majority stake in October 2022.
How it started
Rohan Silva, a former adviser to UK prime minister David Cameron who helped build London's Tech City initiative, and entrepreneur Sam Aldenton founded Second Home in 2014. The pair leaned heavily on design — architect SelgasCano's plant-filled, light-filled rooms won press plaudits and, they hoped, members willing to pay a premium over WeWork-style offices.
What happened
Second Home ran further locations in London and Lisbon and raised more than £60M from Index Ventures, Atomico, Yuri Milner, Tencent president Martin Lau and former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill. Expansion ran ahead of revenue: accounts showed a £5.2M loss on £5.4M of revenue in 2017, and the 90,000 sq ft Hollywood campus opened in September 2019 after years of delay, costing tens of millions and exceeding budget by millions. By October 2019, a year after a £20M raise, Second Home was asking existing investors for a fresh injection, and its CFO had resigned; the campus had attracted tenants including Monzo and Snap's charitable arm, and investor Pembroke VCT still valued the company at a little over £130M. Losses were £16M in 2019, about £23M in 2020 and £13M in 2021, while revenue fell from a high of £9.8M in 2019 to £6.6M in 2021 as the pandemic shut its rooms. In October 2022 Silicon Valley investor Riaz Valani put £7.8M into the company for a majority stake — a huge markdown from the 2019 valuation. A UK Insolvency Service winding-up petition in August 2024 was withdrawn, Los Angeles, Clerkenwell and London Fields were removed from its website in the first half of 2024, and founder Silva stepped down in 2024 as Jamie Apostolou became CEO.
How it ended up
After difficult financial years and historical debt, Second Home applied to appoint administrators in December 2024. Partners from FRP Advisory were appointed on Christmas Eve and the company was bought out immediately in a prepackaged deal led by management; CEO Jamie Apostolou said it was 'our only option to keep the company alive'. Holland Park, Spitalfields and Lisbon kept trading, while Los Angeles, London Fields and Clerkenwell Green closed.
Background
Rohan Silva, who advised UK prime minister David Cameron and helped build London's Tech City initiative, founded Second Home in 2014 with entrepreneur Sam Aldenton. Its bet was that design could make coworking a premium brand: SelgasCano-designed rooms full of plants and colourful pods would attract startups and creative companies willing to pay more than a generic flexible office charged.
Backers including Index Ventures, Atomico, Yuri Milner, Tencent president Martin Lau and former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill put in more than £60M, and investor Pembroke VCT valued the company above £130M in 2019. But expansion never paid for itself: the 90,000 sq ft Hollywood campus opened in September 2019 after years of delay and millions in cost overruns, and by October that year Second Home was asking existing investors for more money, a year after a £20M raise, with its CFO gone.
The financials deteriorated from there. Losses were £16M in 2019, about £23M in 2020 and £13M in 2021, while revenue fell from £9.8M in 2019 to £6.6M in 2021 as the pandemic emptied its rooms. Riaz Valani bought a majority stake for £7.8M in October 2022 — a huge markdown from the 2019 valuation. A UK Insolvency Service winding-up petition in August 2024 was withdrawn; Los Angeles, Clerkenwell and London Fields vanished from its website in the first half of 2024; and founder Silva stepped down in 2024 as Jamie Apostolou became CEO.
In December 2024 Second Home applied to appoint administrators. FRP Advisory was appointed on Christmas Eve and management bought the business in an immediate prepack, which CEO Jamie Apostolou called the only option to keep the company alive. Holland Park, Spitalfields and Lisbon kept trading; Los Angeles, London Fields and Clerkenwell Green closed; and the Spitalfields building behind the brand went into receivership.
What has to be true
- Design and community were supposed to justify premium rents, but flagship sites such as the Hollywood campus ran millions over budget before members filled them.
- Revenue never covered fixed property costs: losses were £16M in 2019, about £23M in 2020 and £13M in 2021, while revenue fell from £9.8M to £6.6M between 2019 and 2021.
- The bet copied WeWork's logic with a nicer room: aesthetics did not change the property model, and Second Home had far less capital to absorb a downturn.
- Each rescue arrived at a steeper markdown — above £130M in 2019, a majority stake for £7.8M in 2022 — until there was no equity left to protect.
What can be applied
Beautiful rooms built a beloved brand, not a durable business: expansion costs, pandemic closures and property debt overwhelmed the premium-coworking model until a 2024 prepack saved the name.
Aftermath
The management prepack kept Second Home's Holland Park, Spitalfields and Lisbon spaces trading, along with its Liberia bookshop, while Los Angeles, London Fields and Clerkenwell Green closed. Historical debt stayed with Second Home Ltd under FRP Advisory and the terms were undisclosed. The Spitalfields building, Britannia House, went into receivership and was put on the market at £30M, with Second Home paying £2.4M a year in rent on a lease running to 2034.
Sources
- Shared office start-up Second Home forced to seek fresh funding
- Iconic British and Portuguese coworking operator Second Home applied to appoint administrators
- EXCLUSIVE: Coworking Pioneer Bought In Prepack Administration Deal
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