UK: Second Home, a London-based coworking company, has applied to appoint administrators, according to court records.
Second Home was founded in 2014 by Rohan Silva, a former policy advisor to ex-prime minister David Cameron. It raised more than £60 million, and grew to four sites in London — in Spitalfields, Clerkenwell, London Fields and Holland Park; one in Lisbon and one in Los Angeles.
Its backers included LocalGlobe co-founder Robin Klein; president of Tencent, Martin Lau, Russian-Israeli billionaire Yuri Milner and European VC firms Index Ventures and Atomico.
In H1 2024, its Los Angeles, Clerkenwell and London Fields sites were removed from its website.
The move to appoint administrators follows an October 2022 deal that saw Silicon Valley billionaire Riaz Valani become the majority shareholder.
Valani paid £7.8 million for a controlling stake in Second Home via his private equity firm Global Asset Capital. The company had a valuation of £130 million valuation in 2019.
Revenue fell from a high of £9.8 million in 2019 to £6.6 million in 2021, according to its accounts for that year. Accounts for the latest financial year are overdue at Companies House.
Silva directorship was terminated in February this year. In April, he took up a new role as chair of Founders Factory in Australia.
In August, Second Home was issued a winding up petition by the UK Insolvency Service, which was later withdrawn.
