At the end of 2022, we announced the launch of Huckletree Oxford Street - a hub for the future of Web, and the future of everything. This space will be the first of its kind in London, a physical hub for creators and adjacent industries in this third iteration of the Web, in the world’s hub for Web3 thinking - London. This workspace for new worlds is attracting strong interest, with top brands already joining.

We are for the innovation community, so we have always looked at the wider macro picture and stayed across the most significant, culture-shifting trends changing the face of business and the sector, whether it be GovTech or the disruption taking place in Health. When Web3 innovation started to surge, we couldn’t ignore it. We want this to be the go-to destination for the most ambitious brands and businesses in across the complete Web3 spectrum - from creators to digital assets into the Metaverse - whether on the brand, operator or the investor side.

In this article, I’m diving into why we’re opening a Web3 hub, and, the considerations we’ve made around launching a physical space for this elusive yet incredibly promising sector.

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Recognising early potential and an appetite to gather

The emergence of Web3, as we've come to learn, has not been overnight. For the past decade, there have been significant in-roads made, and this has been built by a passionate community of new thinkers, creators, developers and, in an ideological sense, those that want to build democratically and differently. We shouldn't underestimate the role that Web3 will play in evolving our lives into a more futuristic version of what they are today - a world where value will be created and enjoyed proportionately.

Speaking for a moment on the recent market downturn in the cryptocurrency space — we belive that the underlying technology of Web3 is more robust than this cryptocrash would have us believe. Web3 technology has the potential to revolutionise industries and create new business models, enabling decentralised systems that are more transparent, secure, and efficient. Web3 is already changing the face of most industries around us, from healthcare, medicine and finance to real estate, education, and right the way across the creator economy.

In saying all of that, Web3 is an embryonic industry - there's still so much room to build structure, network, and unlock the right access to talent and capital - and we want to support Web3 innovation during these critical early moments of innovation by creating a space in the physical world, where investors, creatives and entrepreneurs working in this industry can come together, to work, collaborate, invest.

Our intention is to support the burgeoning community of businesses operating in Web3, NFT and Metaverse as much as we can, both during this phase of hyper-experimentation and as the technology starts to enter into a more mature period. We're creating a space for Web3 innovation to flourish, for ideas to freeflow and for entrepreneurs to find the right backers.

We've seen the appetite to gather in physical places for the Web3 community, take the NFT major event in New York in 2022, which was claimed to the Superbowl of NFTs, the Open Protocol events at Slush in Helsinki in November and the opening of the NFT factory in Paris last October. Where there is community, there is a need to gather, exchange and actively collaborate. This is one of the staying principles core to us and human history, irrespective of what technology you're using.

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Building an inclusive third iteration

Fighting for equality in the spaces where we operate has always been core to our DNA. We want to play our part in building a truly inclusive third iteration of the web. Unfortunately, inclusivity and access in the metaverse and Web3 are big issues. Many of the blockchain technologies are built and funded by an elite group of people, and as this report from cryptocurrency marketplace Gemini, women make up just 26 per cent of Web3 investors today.

Web3 needs to do more than simply mirror the inequities we face in our physical world and we want to contribute to finding solutions to making web3 truly inclusive. Whether this be by dedicating our Alpha Accelerator programme for underrepresented founders to Web3, by organising inclusive meetups, influencing change within our own community of Web3 innovators, or having a fully inclusive on-site team, we’re dedicated to driving the needle on this mission.

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The role of education and importance of humility in the Web3 space

We’re not experts in Web3, in fact most people working directly in it claim not to be either, but what we do know is how to build an ecosystem and a workspace designed for future working. We’ve surrounded ourselves with independent thinkers and leaders operating in Web3 to share, learn, immerse and to inform how we operate a Web3 workspace. Our advisory council is made up of eight Web3 minds, including digital fashion entrepreneurs, NFT creators, investors, and consultants advising luxury household names on their metaverse direction.

We recognise the importance that this physical space doesn’t create further siloes or perpetuate foreign language. We believe there is a need to bridge connections and unlock new opportunities and dealflow, whether that be introducing traditional creatives into how to design in the metaverse, or to upskill corporate brands on how they can unlock blockchain technology or NFT tokens for their customer campaigns or back-ops functions. Education is vital and we want to be the go-to classroom in London.

So, what’s on? Alongside our advisory council, we’ll be running drop in ask me anything sessions with crypto experts, host preview / demos of new innovations, run skills workshops, talent circles, and also our own accelerator programme to support underepresented founders get access to early stage investment.

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Join the Web3 revolution -

Huckletree has become an active player in the Web3 revolution. The advent of this hub for Web3 creators and businesses operating in the metaverse - in one of the global economic centres of Web3 - is a milestone that opens up huge possibilities for the future of this space.

We’re touring the space now. Head here to enquire about membership, book your tour, or get involved with London’s first physical Web3 workspace.

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