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Key people at Spacehive.
Spacehive operates a crowdfunding platform empowering communities to finance local civic and public space improvements. It connects project creators with individuals, businesses, and councils, aggregating financial support. The platform streamlines contributions for diverse initiatives, from revitalizing playgrounds to establishing new community hubs, by effectively pooling funds from various sources to bring local projects to fruition.
Chris Gourlay founded Spacehive in 2011, recognizing that local communities possessed transformative ideas but often lacked accessible funding mechanisms. His insight led to the creation of a digital solution democratizing capital access for civic projects, empowering individuals and groups to solicit direct support for neighborhood enhancements. Gourlay strategically leveraged technology to bridge this crucial resource gap.
Spacehive serves residents, community organizations, public bodies, and corporations investing in local development. Its core vision simplifies local area improvement, championing the inherent power of local people and their ideas to drive positive transformation within their environments. The company remains committed to fostering community enhancement through collaborative, grassroots funding initiatives.
Key people at Spacehive.
Spacehive is a UK-based crowdfunding platform specializing in community-led projects that improve local areas, such as playgrounds, street markets, city farms, and public space revitalizations like the Camden Highline or Peckham Lido revival.[1][2][6] It empowers individuals, groups, councils, businesses, and foundations to fund civic initiatives, blending crowdfunding with grants and matching funds, with over £35 million raised for more than 2,000 projects across the UK and Ireland and an industry-leading 85% success rate.[2][6][7] The platform verifies projects via partners like Locality, provides dedicated support teams, and offers tools for impact measurement, serving first-time creators (65% of users) and focusing on areas like health, environment, inclusion, and regeneration.[1][4][6][7]
Spacehive was founded in 2012 by Chris Gourlay, a former Sunday Times journalist specializing in architecture and planning, who grew frustrated with the lack of investment in public spaces.[1][5][9] Launched in London as a social business, it quickly gained traction with support from the Big Lottery Fund and private/social investors, enabling projects to combine local crowdfunding with grants.[1][5] Early milestones included funding over 200 projects by 2014, such as Hackney gardens and Thames sculptures, and scaling to 500 projects worth £10 million by 2018, with high-profile backers like Joanna Lumley and Sadiq Khan.[1][5]
Spacehive rides the wave of civic tech and community crowdfunding, democratizing place-making amid austerity, post-pandemic recovery, and rising demand for local resilience in the UK/Ireland.[1][2][7] Its timing aligns with government pushes for bottom-up regeneration, leveraging digital platforms to bridge public funds with grassroots ideas when traditional grants fall short.[4][7] Market forces like climate urgency, social inclusion needs, and hybrid funding trends favor it, influencing ecosystems by building local capacity, repurposing assets, and amplifying impact—e.g., 70% of projects aid needy areas while fostering skills in thousands monthly.[6][7] As a G-Cloud supplier, it shapes public sector procurement, proving tech can scale social good efficiently.[4][7]
Spacehive is poised to expand as community-driven regeneration accelerates, potentially surpassing £50 million funded amid net-zero goals and economic pressures, with AI-enhanced matching and global civic tech adoption.[2][6][7] Trends like decentralized funding and impact analytics will propel it, evolving its role from UK specialist to broader ecosystem enabler, connecting more enterprises and governments to local changemakers. This reinforces its core mission: empowering people to transform places they love, turning frustration into widespread prosperity.[1][9]
