What Makerversity does

Makerversity operates a 20,000 sqft maker space and co-working community inside Somerset House, a Grade I listed cultural centre on the Thames in central London. Founded in 2013, the company provides 24/7 access to nine specialized workshops — digital fabrication (laser cutting, SLA and FDM 3D printing), wood, metal, fashion, electronics and robotics, materials lab, photography, and an outdoor Land Lab in Croydon — alongside high-spec design software (Adobe Creative Cloud, Fusion 360, Rhino, SolidWorks) and graphics workstations. The asset is operated via Nexudus for membership management and Eventbrite for tour/event booking, with xTool, Autodesk and Ultimaker as equipment and software partners.

The commercial model is a tiered subscription membership — MakerFlex 60 (£275/mo), MakerFlex (£350/mo), MakerDesk (from £450/mo), MakerBay (from £1,200/mo for teams of 2-6), MakerStudio (custom, up to 8) and Office+ (custom, 8-50) — sold exclusively direct-to-consumer after a free 30-45 minute facility tour. Approximately 20% of capacity is allocated free through residencies (Under 30s, Makers with a Mission, Black Makers & Designers Fund) and partner programmes with Crisis, Kingston University, Prince's Trust, Kickstarter and Westminster City Council. Supplementary revenue comes from venue hire (The Project Space, Photography Studio, The Paint Room) and The School's paid talks, classes and courses.

Customers are early-stage hardware, design and creative-practice founders alongside individual designers, makers and inventors; named member companies span fashion (Amphico), AI (Morpho AI), robotics (Arthur Robotics), sustainable materials (Primamateria) and consumer technology (Pyri). The company is a certified B Corporation (score 103.8, August 2024), London Living Wage employer, and reports cumulative member outcomes of £600M+ in company value built, 1,000+ jobs created and 8 Terra Carta Awards.

Name

Makerversity

Legal name

Makerversity®

Website

https://makerversity.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Makerversity operates a 20,000 sqft maker space and co-working community at Somerset House in central London, offering tiered memberships with 24/7 access to nine specialized workshops and studios for designers, makers, inventors, and early-stage hardware startups.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Co-working and Maker Space Services

akta.pro primary industry

Creator Content Production & Co-Creation Studios (BPAFAHAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Crafts & Maker Arts (Ceramics, Textiles, Jewelry, Mixed Media) (EDAMAAAD)

Keywords

• Maker space membership
• Co-working workshops
• Digital fabrication services
• Creative studios hire
• Hardware prototyping facilities

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: Monthly recurring subscriptions for hot-desks, dedicated desks, studios and team bays. Multiple tiers from £275/month for flexible hot-desking to custom pricing for team offices. All memberships include workshop access, free machine inductions, meeting room access, barista coffee, Somerset House address, and community benefits.
2. Venue & Event Hire: Hire of event spaces including The Project Space (480 sqft, up to 35 standing), Photography Studio (650 sqft, up to 12 crew), and The Paint Room bar space (800 sqft, up to 100 standing). Pricing from £350/half-day for photography studio to £800/evening for The Paint Room. Catering available.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Makerversity operates a 20,000 sqft maker space at Somerset House in central London offering tiered membership subscriptions (hot-desks, dedicated desks, team bays, studios and offices) bundled with 24/7 access to nine fully equipped workshops covering digital fabrication, woodwork, metalwork, fashion, electronics, materials science, photography and outdoor agricultural testing. It also sells venue hire for events and runs educational courses and free funded residencies for emerging and mission-driven makers.

Product overview

Makerversity is a maker space and co-working community at Somerset House in central London, offering 20,000 sqft of workshops and studios. The core product is a tiered membership portfolio (MakerFlex 60, MakerFlex, MakerDesk, MakerBay, MakerStudio, Office+) providing hot-desking, dedicated desks, team bays, and private studios with 24/7 workshop access. Supporting this are nine fully-equipped workshops: Digital Fabrication, Wood, Metal, Fashion, Electronics & Robotics, Materials Lab, Land Lab (outdoor), Photography, and Software access. Additional offerings include venue hire (The Project Space, Photography Studio, The Paint Room) and The School with residencies (Makers with a Mission, Under 30s, Black Makers & Designers Fund, Crisis, Kingston University partnerships) and educational courses. The integrated membership platform (Nexudus) and tour/event booking system (Eventbrite) enable operations, while equipment sponsorships (xTool machines) expand workshop capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Makers with a Mission: A funded residency program offering 6 months of free membership and support for individuals or small teams building solutions for climate, health, and social impact.
• Under 30s
• Black Makers & Designers Fund
• MakerFlex®
• MakerDesk®
• MakerBay®
• MakerStudio®
• The School

Products and services

• MakerFlex 60 Membership Monthly subscription for individuals providing 60 hours per month of hot-desking with full workshop access, free machine inductions, free meeting rooms and community benefits at £275/month + VAT.
• MakerFlex Unlimited Membership Monthly subscription for individuals providing unlimited 24/7 hot-desking with personal locker, full workshop access, software, meeting rooms and community benefits at £350/month + VAT.
• MakerDesk Membership Monthly subscription giving an individual their own large workbench-desk hybrid on the main floor with personal storage, full workshop access and community benefits from £450/month + VAT.
• MakerBay Membership Monthly subscription for teams of 2-6 providing a semi-private bay with desks, workbench, racking, tool wall and storage on the community floor, from £1,200/month + VAT.
• MakerStudio Membership Custom-priced monthly subscription for teams of up to 8 offering self-contained studios with their own entrance, customisable fit-out, full workshop access and community benefits.
• Office+ Membership Custom-priced monthly subscription for teams of 8-50 providing a full team office at Somerset House combined with MakerFlex workshop access and storage by agreement.
• Digital Fabrication Workshop On-site fab lab with large format and metal-capable laser cutters, SLA and FDM 3D printers, vinyl cutter, vacuum formers and graphics workstations, available to members with free machine inductions and design software.
• Wood Workshop Full joinery workshop with bandsaw, chop saw, table saw, scroll saw, lathe, disc and bobbin sanders, pillar drill, thicknesser/planer, router table, spray booth and Festool power and hand tools, available to members with inductions.
• Metal Workshop Precision metalworking facility with metal lathe, variable speed manual mill, metal chop saw for aluminium and steel, adjustable bandsaw, polishers, grinders and jewellery bench, available to members with inductions.
• Fashion Studio Production-ready sewing studio with industrial sewing machines, 10-needle embroidery machine, industrial overlocker, vacuum and heated ironing table, heat press, pattern-cutting tables, screen printer and leather machine, available to members with inductions.
• Electronics & Robotics Workshop Electronics and robotics lab equipped with soldering and hot air stations, PCB oven, oscilloscope, multimeters, DC power supplies and a robot arm, available to members building IoT, robotics and AI projects.
• Materials Lab Wet and dry lab benches with fume cupboard, industrial blenders and mixers, centrifuges, microscopes, vacuum pump, water deionizer, temperature-controlled fridges and freezers, incubator and dehydrator, available to members working on materials, biotech and sustainability projects.
• Land Lab Outdoor test site in Croydon with four small no-dig plots (approximately 3x35 sqm each), open agricultural land, spades, watering facilities, compost and a polytunnel, available to members for regenerative, agricultural and materials exploration projects.
• Photography Studio Full photography studio with Westcott D5 lights, ESDDI light boxes, DSLR cameras and GoPro, Colorama backdrops, product and portrait setups and 4K editing software, available to members.
• Design Software Access Bundled design and fabrication software suite including Adobe Creative Cloud, Fusion 360, Rhino, SolidWorks and Hatch embroidery software, with access to high-performance graphics PCs, included with membership.
• The Project Space Venue Hire 480 sqft event space under a Waterloo Bridge archway at Somerset House, available to members and the public for meetings, launches, screenings and small exhibitions for up to 35 standing, with 8K AV and from £450 per half-day hire.
• Photography Studio Venue Hire 650 sqft central London photography studio with seamless paper backdrops, lighting kit, Canon SLR and tripods, available to members and the public for product shoots, portraits and small film crews for up to 12 people, from £350 per half-day.
• The Paint Room Venue Hire 800 sqft cafe-bar by day and private venue by night in the Somerset House basement, with fully stocked in-house bar team, DJ booth, AV and late licence to 1am, available to hire from £800 per evening for up to 100 standing.
• Talks, Classes & Courses Educational programming including evening classes, weekend courses and one-off talks at Somerset House, covering laser cutting, 3D printing, sewing, woodwork, metalwork, electronics and related making topics, taught by working designers and engineers.
• Makers with a Mission Residency Free 6-month funded residency for individuals or small teams building climate, health or social impact ventures, providing full workshop access, mentoring and community support at Makerversity.
• Under 30s Residency

Quantifiable outcome

• £600M+ value of companies built by members
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Somerset HousecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSomerset House is the host location and primary partner for Makerversity. Makerversity is Somerset House's first resident and operates within this cultural centre. The partnership provides Makerversity with 20,000 sqft of space, access to a 3,000-person creative community, and integration with cultural programmes, exhibitions, and events.
• CrisiscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCrisis Residency - a funded residency for designers and makers from the Crisis community, people who've experienced homelessness and are building a creative practice. Full workshop access, mentoring and place in the Makerversity community.
• Kingston UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKingston University Residency - a bridge from graduation to professional practice. Selected Kingston graduates get studio space, workshop access and community for a year to turn a final project into a real business.
• Prince's TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership delivering workshops for 18-25 year olds with an interest in design and making. Get Started in Graphic Design workshops with focus on sustainability.
• KickstartercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMakerversity & Kickstarter Residency partnership for creative businesses launching new projects. Annual residency programme combining Makerversity workspace with Kickstarter's platform.
• SelfridgesminorOthersBrand partnership and collaboration.
• John LewisminorOthersBrand partnership and collaboration.
• Direct LineminorOthersBrand partnership and collaboration.
• PearsonminorOthersBrand partnership and collaboration.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Somerset House Studios: Artist and creative-residency programme housed inside the same Somerset House building as Makerversity. Adjacent rather than competitive, sharing the venue's cultural infrastructure and audience.

Broad incumbents

• Second Home: Premium London creative-industries co-working operator with cultural programming and design-led interiors. Comparable in creative-tenant focus and central-London positioning, though at much larger scale and without maker workshops.
• WeWork: Global co-working incumbent with central-London presence. Comparable on the membership/co-working axis but offers no maker workshops, so Makerversity's hardware-founder niche is differentiated.
• Impact Hub: Global network of impact-focused co-working spaces with residency and accelerator programmes. Comparable to Makerversity in social-enterprise positioning and community-led member support.
• The Office Group: Premium London co-working and serviced-office operator. Comparable as a London workspace competitor at the Office+ tier but lacks any workshop or maker capability.

Direct peers

• The Trampery: London mission-driven co-working and innovation-space operator with residencies for under-represented founders. Closely comparable to Makerversity's B Corp/social-impact positioning and residency-led model.
• Machines Room: London-based membership maker space offering digital fabrication, electronics and woodworking workshops to designers and startups. Directly comparable to Makerversity in model, audience and equipment mix.
• Fab Lab London: North London digital fabrication and prototyping studio with membership and workshop access for makers, designers and hardware startups. Closest peer in the Fab Lab/maker-space category.
• Central Research Laboratory: London operator of accelerator and maker spaces for hardware startups, combining workshop access with business support. Overlaps Makerversity on hardware founder support and prototyping facilities.

Emerging players

• Protein Studios: London creative-membership workspace and event venue with a focus on brand and innovation communities. Overlaps Makerversity on community-led creative membership and venue hire.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/makerversity
• Instagraminstagram.com/makerversity
• Xx.com/makerversity
• Facebookfacebook.com/makerversity

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Makerversity