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The Swiss start-up Upscale Interiors AG has bought together with entrepreneur and business angel Oliver Holy, the tech platform of the insolvent start-up 99chairs and put together a team in Berlin-Mitte with new and former 99chairs employees. Under the brand Upscale, the online interior design business is now being expanded in Germany.
Companies such as Daimler Benz, Factory Berlin, Boehringer, Outfittery, Biontech or Uber were relevant customers of the interior design portal 99chairs. However, as potential investors refrained from long negotiations, the company, founded by Frank Stegert and Julian Riedelsheimer in 2010, had to cease operations end of June 2018.
The Swiss start-up company Upscale has now developed its expansion into Germany by taking over 99chairs assets from their insolvency. It didn’t happen to be the classic acquisition of a company, but the purchase of the Tech Design furniture platform and the social media channels of 99chairs. Upscale was able to create a new perspective for 7 former 99chairs employees by bringing their experience to Upscale. With new employees in Berlin-Mitte. Upscale now wants to conquer the German market. The office in Auguststrasse 72 is a co-working space for the existing 50 interior designers of the platform, as well as new interior designers and creatives
Interior Design with a sense of proportion
The main goal of Upscale is to help businesses and individuals to set up their home, work-space, furnished apartment or co-working space, to give customers the interior design they love. Although Upscale only got active in the market in 2016, the team has already been able to land international projects and gain experience abroad. In Warsaw, Upscale took over the complete establishment of 30 furnished apartments with a curated art concept with local, contemporary young artists in the Skyscraper Zlota44 by star architect Daniel Libeskind. Meanwhile, Upscale's clients include larger real estate portfolio holders from Switzerland and Germany, groups, which have their incubators or offices set up, or project developers who efficiently furnish apartment units for rent out.
"The trend of switching jobs, moving to a different city, home or office is increasing especially among young people," says Carina Kümmeke. "The demand for a well-equipped office is very high, but often lacks the time and the muse to set it up. This results in a need for professional and simultaneously affordable interior design concepts. "Upscale now makes interior design accessible to everyone by connecting customers with experienced interior designers from all over Europe, combining the design process with modern technologies such as virtual reality with 3D tours, 3D Visualisations or an online style tool. The 99chairs technology platform with its connection to a large number of furniture brands is an important part of this as well.
Prior to the founding of Upscale, we worked together for years to observe the pain points for interior designers and came to the conclusion, that this way of working is very complex. Together with our team, we want to help other interior designers with our digital solutions and our platform to master the time-consuming tasks and to unfold their creativity with fun. We want to support them when creating mood boards, when trading with furniture brands, with logistics solutions, or efficient bookkeeping. In the USA, there are already very established and profitable players. For the European expansion and integration of the technical know-how, the acquisition of the 99chairs assets fit perfectly and we look forward to this expansion. "
Upscale founder,
Carina Kümmeke
About Upscale
The main goal of Upscale is to help businesses and individuals to set up their home, work-space, furnished apartment or co-working space, to give customers the interior Upscale is the leading German speaking interior design start-up with a focus on fresh interior design for commercial and private customers. The company was founded in 2016 by Carina and Tom Kümmeke in Zurich. The company is headquartered in Zurich Seefeld with additional representative offices inBerlin-Mitte and various freelancers from all over Europe. Upscale currently employs about 50 permanent employees and freelancers
Upscale has three sub-brands: Upscale Spaces for Office and B2B Projects, Upscale Interiors for Residential Customers and Upscale Escapes for Vacation Properties and Hospitality Projects.
More information about UPSCALE
Press Contact : Meike Neitz, Die Zukunftsmanufaktur
Email: m.neitz@diezukunftsmanufaktur.de
Phone: +49-176-800 28 227
