The Cultural Marketplace

Friday 22 August 2008

From frustration to funding in 16 days!

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Mesh has recently secured funding from Addidi Angels, a newly formed angels’ network focused on high-profile women investors. As part of the investment, Mesh will be covered in the next four issues of House magazine, the seasonal publication for members of Soho House.

We have also crystallized our vision and focus for the future:

"Mesh is a cultural marketplace connecting the arts and business worlds. Meshers have one thing in common - a passion for culture, arts & creativity. They love to invest, collaborate and connect with like-minded people who bring them cutting-edge, unusual, and inspirational experiences.

Here's what we mesh them with:

* emerging creative talent for the purposes of investment or collaboration
* cutting-edge cultural experiences and events that may be off the radar
* curators, event organisers and promoters so that ideas can be shared to improve future offerings

Our aim is to encourage growth in the arts as a whole and to nurture emerging talent so that everyone can thrive."

Here's our latest video introducing some of our elite members:


It has taken us over a year's worth of research, over which time we have gathered a mass of over 700 beta testers and over 2,000 individuals waiting to join, to get to where we are today. I cannot say how frustrating it has been, at times, to work on Mesh only as a part-time project away from our day jobs as a lawyers. However, the development of our initial concept has enabled us to attract our first round of funding and the whole process took only 16 days from pitch, through due diligence, to offer!

We are also in the process of entering into some very exciting strategic partnerships, which will further boost our growth and strengthen our concept. More on those in due course!

Our new developer/Python genius, Robert Lofthouse, is fast working on the site and we have plans for mobile applications in the pipeline. Next year, members will be able to call on our cultural concierge wherever they may be. Excellent. I love it when a plan comes together.