The internet is now home to a plethora of social networks, blogs, online group spaces and other tools that can help in managing a group or society. Yet judging by the rapid growth of GroupSpaces, what groups and societies have been waiting for is one central spot for their organising and tracking of members.

According to co-founder and CEO David Langer, once the project was off the ground, they knew they were on to something. "After launching this site in October 2006, with a target of signing up 50 societies in the first 6 months, we signed up over 100 in the first 6 days so there were early signs the idea had legs." CTO Andrew Young explains GroupSpaces as "a web-based service that solves all the problems of group managers with a combination of powerful, easy-to-use tools and an integrated portal. The online toolset is designed to fit in with groups’ existing conventions, helping to establish efficient, robust procedures and facilitating collaboration between group members, managers and the wider world.”

Currently, GroupSpaces continues to focus on student societies. After all, the duo founded the company while still at Oxford University, where they won awards and advertising contracts with blue chip companies on the back of huge amounts of traffic. "But the world’s a big place", says Langer. "Every club, society, charity and other real-world group needs to run a mailing list, keep track of their members, maintain a web presence and hold events – there are hundreds of millions of groups in the world who could benefit from our product." And investors seem to agree; GroupSpaces has managed to raise six figure sum from a consortium of investors, following a successful pitch at an investment meeting run by Oxford Early Investments.

GroupSpaces is free for groups with up to 250 members, and starts at £5 per month for more than 250 members, going to £45 per month for groups with 25,000 members.