UAE-Based Workspace Booking Platform Hotdesk Acquires Spain’s YADO

Hotdesk, a Dubai-based on-demand workspace booking platform, has acquired Spanish coworking app YADO.

The acquisition will enable Hotdesk to expand into Europe, and increase its footprint across key markets. To date, YADO has over 100 co-working spaces across Spain including Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Seville, Granada, Malaga, and Bilbao.

“With Dubai as our home-base, Hotdesk was always designed to become a global player,” Mohamed Khaled, Co-Founder and CEO of Hotdesk, tells StartupScene. “The coworking scene and hybrid work adoption in Spain is strong, with a range of young professionals ranging from freelancers to creatives, SMEs to flexible enterprises. We are super happy to be working with Anna and Cris, and we welcome them into the team through the acquisition of WE YADO, S.L.”

Adopting YADO’s hyper growth approach, Hotdesk aims to offer increased opportunities for those looking to work in a co-working environment in Spain and other Spanish speaking markets. It also aims to encourage people and companies to use the app to book desks, meeting rooms, and offices either by the hour, day, month or year.

According to Hotdesk, the news is the first in a series of major announcements set for 2023 as the startup looks to establish itself as a leading global workspace booking platform. Founded in 2019, Hotdesk has grown from 15 bookings in its first month to over 10,000 monthly bookings in a year.

In 2021, Hotdesk raised $1 million in a Seed funding round to grow its platform.

The MENA region witnessed a rise in mergers and acquisition (M&A) in 2022. According to Magnitt’s latest Emerging Venture Markets Report, M&A transactions increased by 71%, with the UAE, KSA, and Egypt doubling their exits YoY.

Some of the biggest acquisitions that took place in the region last year include KSA’s e-commerce startup Sary acquiring Egypt’s B2B platform Mowarrid; UAE’s real estate startup Huspy acquiring Finance Lab; and UAE-based super app Careem acquiring Denarii Cash, amongst others.