John Hoyle, founder of RTIH Innovation Awards winner Sook, joins Diriyah Company as Development Director

John Hoyle has started a new position as Development Director at Diriyah Company, which offers property development, project planning, residential sales, leasing, asset management, and investment solutions in Saudi Arabia.

Hoyle was previously founder of Sook, a UK-based startup operating in the pop-up retail space that closed for business earlier this year after failing to raise sufficient funding.

In a LinkedIn post, Hoyle said: “I’m devastated to announce the closure of Sook.”

“In spite of the extraordinary efforts of our team, growing sales and achieving international scale we were unable to raise sufficient investment to continue in the current environment.”

He added: “I’m so proud of all that we achieved and incredibly sad that we cannot continue. Please support our team members as they search for new roles.”

“They have first hand experience of disrupting the retail and real estate sectors during incredibly challenging times. Thank you to everyone who supported us over the last five years.”

2022 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Sook, which took vacant retail spaces and gave them a modular, digital fit-out which could be rented by the hour, emerged victorious at the 2022 RTIH Innovation Awards, picking up the Bricks and Mortar Innovation gong.

Our judging panel said of the company: “There aren’t many things more depressing than empty shops on a high street, especially when it’s at odds with the number of innovative SMEs desperate for a bricks and mortar base to interact with customers.”

“Sook realised this demand for physical space hadn’t gone away, it just needed to solve the disconnect between brands and landlords while making it quick, easy and cost-effective for those brands to create a bespoke space.”

“As well as enhancing local communities and economies with these immersive pop-ups, it gathers analytics for its occupiers, allowing them to best understand how to use physical space as efficiently and effectively as possible.”

“Sook also claims to have placed great importance on sustainability with its offsite modular construction typically producing 30% less CO2 compared to a traditional shop fit and powering all its units using 100% renewable energy providers.”

“Finally, it’s not just SMEs working with the company – Uber, Mastercard, Facebook, SumUp, Hard Rock, Tik Tok, Jagermeister, Depop and Raspberry Pi all have also sought it out as a solution for enabling physical spaces to thrive via innovative technology.”

2024 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

The sixth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards is now open for entries.

The awards, sponsored by CADS, 3D Cloud, and Retail Technology Show 2025, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

It’s free to enter and you can do so across multiple categories.

Key 2024 dates

Friday, 25th October: Award entry deadline 

Tuesday, 29th October: 2024 shortlist revealed

30th October-6th November: Judging days

Thursday, 21st November: Winners announced at the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards ceremony, to be held at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London.