This Week is sponsored by…PilotoMail.
Stressed about handling postal mail at your coworking space? We were too.
PilotoMail helps streamline mailroom operations & automate the hardest parts of mail management (like time-consuming CMRA forms) while growing coworking revenue through customizable virtual mailbox plans.
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🎉 Coworking celebrations.
🇨🇾 Coworking space wins bi-communal award for business cooperation #
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder and owner of easy family of brands, announced the 10x €10,000 winners of his annual Bi-Communal Awards for Business Cooperation. One of winning pairs was Steven Stavrou & Burak Doluay, the duo behind The Base a coworking space built in the demilitarized zone on the island of Cyprus.
The aim of the awards is to encourage cooperation between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriot businessmen, with the goal of establishing lasting peace on the island. The bi-communal annual awards were introduced in 2009.
👉 Read this.
🎂 Trellis Coworking turned 3! #
Congrats to the team at Trellis Coworking! I love seeing new stronger communities raising ‘from the ashes’ of previous coworking space businesses.
👉 Read this.
🎂 Locus turns 14! #
Congrats to Mathias Vanluchene and the Locus Workspace team and community!
👉 Read this.
🎂 The Shop SLC turns 4! #
Four years ago, The Shop Workspace opened its doors in Salt Lake City with a big dream: to create a coworking space that went beyond desks and Wi-Fi. Congrats on 4 years!
👉 Read this.
👏 European Coworking Day 2026 covered 36 countries #
On Wednesday 6 May the fourth edition of the European Coworking Day took place, uniting 252 coworking locations from all across Europe to open their spaces and invite potential members to experience coworking and community, to have some breakfast, lunch or ice cream break, or visit some insightful event.
This edition covered 36 countries including Andorra, Cyprus and the Baltic countries – and even extending to Georgia and Armenia.
👉 Read this.
✊ Coworking impact.
🆘 Street-level space’s new Mental Health Awareness Week window displays. #
Elliot Gold shares a snap of Work.Life’s newest window displays, sharing a notion I think we can all agree with: "Working alone sucks" followed by the hashtag #IveBeenThere.
He does note that "flexibility is important, but I think many more of us than we’d like to admit need the social aspect of work." Agreed Elliot!
👉 Read this.
👏 Celebrate what makes you… you #
Patrick Hemus shares a lovely post highlighting what makes Maggie O’Neill special, by defining what they’re not.
Love it Patrick, and from what I see, so does your community. Indie operators, take note.
👉 Read this.
🙋♀️ A challenge for mental health month #
Liz Elam shares that GCUC are launching the GCUC Access: The Door Is Open initiative to "make coworking the first industry to offer free, barrier-free mental health support."
She is inviting operators, partners and leaders across the industry to join in and set a new standard, where mental health is not a workplace afterthought.
👉 Read this.
Coworking news & views.
🛒 Coworking + groceries? #
Tesco (the UK’s largest grocer) have announced a partnership with IWG to convert excess space in a supermarket into a 3,8k sqft work hub. The pilot will run on a mezzanine floor inside a store in South London and offer 12 fixed desks, 30 hotdesks and a meeting room.
UK twitter and LinkedIn took humorous pokes at the news, but given that supermarkets often have excess space and are often located near heavily residential areas or along heavy transportation routes. So Mark Dixon‘s statement about people wanting to live and work in their local communities makes more sense of this news. I mean I’m very curious about how it’ll look/feel, but I do think we’ll see more underutilized space shift towards providing affordable workspaces for stickier footfall.
👉 Read this.
📝 Why every workspace operator should write down their ideas. #
Taylor Mason shares a quick post highlighting 4 benefits of writing down your ideas, regardless of whether you run a single space, a hundred locations or are selling your concept to landlords or brokers.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Bringing more affordable workspace (and housing) to Shoreditch. #
In one of London’s most popular areas, there was a puzzling amount of unused space surrounding the Shoreditch High Street station. This space (prev. the Bishopsgate Goods Yard site) will be regenerated through The Goodsyard a £900M (~$1.1B) project that was just given the green light by the Mayor’s Office.
The project includes 500 new homes (1/2 of which are deemed ‘affordable’ housing) and according to the report will become one of the largest providers of affordable workspace in London.
👉 Read this.
🏢 Are real estate landlords getting shook? #
Zac Goodman from TSP shares why real estate landlords are about to have their 1000+ "easy streak" shook up.
In short: "Real Estate bosses must embrace flexibility in their mindset AND their offering." Yes Zach, yes!
👉 Read this.
💸 If student accommodation is investable, shouldn’t flex space be? #
Tom Sleigh from Colliers shares a post about how pension funds turned student accommodation into a cash cow, posing the question whether the flex office sector will ever be accepted by investors like student housing is. Tom makes a great point and highlights the many parallels between the two short-term real-estate sectors.
The comment thread includes posts from industry heavyweights like David Kosky (Work.Life), Zac Goodman (TSP), Will Kinnear (HEWN) and Lisa Cations (IWG) and all seem to say a similar thing, "it’s coming".
From what I’m seeing across the industry, it is coming, but many are waiting for certain PE firms to sell their flex space portfolios, defining "officially" how much above zero dollars per sqft an activated flex space is worth to investors.
👉 Read this.
🏨 Hotel-to-coworking conversion in St Petersburg, FL #
St Pete Catalyst shares how the historic Betty Ann Hotel has been converted into the areas newest coworking space called Uptown Works by founders Amanda Patanow and Vinny Tafuro.
👉 Read this.
👀 First Look at The Shop in Brooklyn #
We’ve gotten our first look at The Shop BK’s Commons space, coming soon to Gowanus.
👉 Read this.
🙊 How did the UK land up in this sticky business rates jam? #
Marcus Plows from Compton Rates, explores what’s really going on with UK services offices and business rates, and how everyone landed up in the current situation.
The piece gives a good overview of how things were, are, and what’s changing. We follow a 2023 "agreement" and how that led various agencies to want to see the matter "legally tested" through the courts to arrive at the "correct" answer re: how to rate serviced office providers.
👉 Read this.
🖐️ Some tips on reducing coworking staff burnout #
In an interview with William Edmundson from the iWorkSpaceMail team, Jade Mauldin, Director of Community at Common Desk, shares some tips on how coworking brands can reduce staff turnover and burnout.
From building a great culture, to what to look for in an interview, to empowering employees its a quick and interesting summary worth looking over.
👉 Read this.
🏢 When big coworking moves in: Pricing, Content & Event ideas #
Part two of Cobot‘s series on handling a nearby chain. This week’s edition picks up where last week left off with practical advice on pricing, video content, and using events as a front door for new members.
Includes real examples from workish.berlin and Kiez Büro.
👉 Read this.
🏬 The office landlords leaning into flex, and the tech they use #
Holly Dutton shares that many large landlords are leaning into their very own flex brands, and how many of them lean on technology to merge their digital and physical offerings.
Landlords leaning into flex offerings of their own that are mentioned in the piece are Hines, Boston Properties, Irvine Company, Tishman Speyer, SL Green alongside tech cos like essensys, Lane, and VTS.
👉 Read this.
📨 The one line that turns mail runs into community magic #
Dana Silva shares a reminder of how simple framing can turn someone popping in to get their VO mail into a networking moment that glues your community together (and may even upsell the mailbox client).
The change in framing? From "here’s your mail", to "have you met…?"
👉 Read this.
🤔 How do remote teams think about IRL workspaces? #
Tushar Agarwal from Hubble shares an interesting video in which he breaks down 3 ways remote teams are using flexible workspaces to get together IRL regularly or on an ad-hoc basis.
Spoiler: they are meeting rooms, on-demand offices and part-time (fractional) offices.
👉 Read this.
💥 On ‘coworking is easy’ for landlords… #
Craig Baute brings the receipts on what happened within 4 months of a landlord taking over a coworking space from an experience operator "to do it themselves… because ‘coworking is easy and in our wheelhouse.’"
The summary: from a profit-share agreement spitting off $45k+ per month in the landlords favor, to a $12k drop in take home cash (before new labor, software, etc expenses).
👉 Read this.
😎 7 signs you have a thriving coworking space and community #
Having an activated and engaged coworking space is an infinitely better experience for members. Spaces that look nice but are devoid of energy are boring and uninspiring, which means members are already thinking of leaving for another space or back to their work-from-home or coffee shop life. Which is no good for anyone!
Cat Johnson digs into what it looks like to be a place where people feel inspired, connected, and engaged.
👉 Read this.
🚨 Should we be concerned about ‘rooms’? #
Adam Blaskey shares a concern stemming from IWG‘s Q1 trading statement.
The figures were in line with what many of us were expecting, but what caught Adam’s eye is that IWG have started reporting "revenue per available room", similar to how hotel chains and brands do. Possibly a way to align closer with the valuations of hotel brands?
_But Adam does also highlight the stark difference between hotel rooms and offices – a hotel room is at defined-size room that is either available or not, whereas an office can change shape, size and utlization throughout the day, week or month. _
👉 Read this.
📉 What is Lead Decay, and how do you stop it? #
Asen Stoyanchev from OfficeRnD shares a practical guide to measuring lead decay in your coworking sales pipeline, naming the cause, and stopping it before leads go cold.
👉 Read this.
🤝 Are we asking (each other) the wrong first question? #
Sarah Travers shares why "how many locations do you have?" is probably one of the worst ways to start a conversation with any coworking leader.
Sarah goes on to share why utilization, and repeat utilization in particular, are far better scorecards of how a coworking business is doing.
👉 Read this.
📨 Guide for nailing a scalable VO offering #
Sofia Stolberg shares a 22 page guide on how coworking and flex space operators can nail and scale their virtual office offerings.
I kinda love PilotoMail’s (new?) tagline, "freedom from sq ft", as operators increasingly explore new revenue models and operating efficiencies that aren’t strictly tied to finite bookable space.
👉 Read this.
🪄 What took them from behind targets to near-full-capacity? #
A notebook. You know, the bound paper for pen kind.
Edward Hight shares how and why a notebook and to-do list, he was given by his manager Ross Carter, upgraded his workflow.
The result? The Ministry‘s memberships going from behind target in ’25, to nearing full capacity in ’26.
👉 Read this.
💻 Virtual coworking spaces making a comeback. Again? #
Laya Neelakandan shares 3 virtual coworking hubs (Cofocus, Groove and LifeAt) and their popularity with individuals working remotely. Cofocus, for example, has 40k users.
This seems to be the third wave, and makes me wonder what kinds of partnerships or opportunities exist between these virtual communities and our physical ones. Thoughts?
👉 Read this.
👩🎨 Is giving each location their own brand too risky? #
Jamie Dundas shares the first in a four-part series of articles on ‘scaling with soul’ looking at how coworking brands can grow and balance the tension between ‘scale’ and ‘soul’. Using lessons from scaling Good Space.
This post looks at the wins and challenges of giving each location in a network their own brand.
👉 Read this.
🙇♀️ Operator mastermind grows following conference #
Geoff Wood shares how the ‘mastermind’ group of operators, started alongside Brian Watson and Garrett Tichy, has evolved since early in the pandemic. Their monthly call has now been expanded and invited two more owners Lauren Brewer and Sneh Kadakia.
I love informal and supportive collaborations between similar-sized or -visioned operators.
👉 Read this.
🛑 Firm in Glasgow stops offering virtual mail plans #
Teresa Jackson from Collabor8te shares that a fellow local operator Blue Square Offices has ceased offering virtual mail or "addresses" plans referencing that they’ve become unprofitable.
This is something we’ve touched on a few times in the newsletter recently, as more and operators take a closer look at which services produce the best kinds of revenue. Worth noting that Collabor8te is taking up the opportunity to serve these clients and plans, highlighting that if you optimize correctly other operators’ risks could be your opportunities.
👉 Read this.
🦅 Are drone-like videos the next big coworking promo? #
I find this video by Avila Spaces a pretty fun way to see how the space is set up, what the amenities are, and what working there could "feel" like for an individual or team.
Have you put together a ‘fly through’ video for your space? If so, where is it? And if not, why not?
👉 Read this.
🇨🇦 Is there a better way for Canada’s gov. to enable coworking & community clubs? #
Tessa McLoughlin asks why Canada’s Provincial & Federal Governments are not partnering or supporting experienced operators, but are instead investing taxpayers’ money into building and managing their own coworking spaces.
👉 Read this.
🇳🇱 A 64.5k reminder not to count brokers out of flex #
Lucas Haiber shares that Flexas have now filled 6k sqm (~64.5k sqft) of office space at HOFF Offices in Amsterdam. Interestingly deals ranged from a few desks to whole floors, with durations ranging between 1 and 5 years.
Are you still responding to requests from your local brokers? Seems like they’ve got customers to place into flex.
👉 Read this.
🇪🇸 Could this be the flashiest coworking launch event ever? #
Adam Blaskey shares a launch event video. You’d be excused for thinking the red carpet, ceremony and overall feel of the event was for a new movie release or a music awards show. But actually, it’s for the launch of The Music Station, a new coworking space and creative hub by Warner Music Spain and Warner Chappell Music within a former train station in Madrid, Spain.
Interesting to see more and more industries launching shared space and resources for their communities, suppliers, clients, and partners.
👉 Read this.
🤔 What’s more important, great tech or great real estate? #
John Preece shares thought experiment for knowledge centric business that highlights that real estate is ‘largely dumb infrastructure in its current form’.
I know that for many workspace operators (and landlords leaning into flex) tech is often an after thought by necessity, but as that changes, it’ll be exciting to see how much "smarter" and hospitable (and inclusive) offices will become.
👉 Read this.
Share This Week's Summary
💻 Coworking technology.
⚙️ Syncaroo made API migrations a 3-min switcheroo #
OfficeRnD deprecated version one of their API last week, meaning all integrations needed to be updated or rebuilt to support the new version before then, or risked getting disconnected and removed.
Syncaroo shared that not only were every one of their OfficeRnD-connected integrations were migrated to the latest API version ahead of schedule, and that 100s of synced locations, memberships and resources were migrated via sub-3-minute migrations.
👉 Read this.
📈 2.2M sync events processed between flex space platforms #
Syncaroo share a glimpse into how data-syncing between previously disconnected flex workspace platforms is climbing. Since Sept 2021 over 2M events were processed in total, but given that Aprilsaw some 604k sync events alone, this number is expected to keep growing as more and more operators, platforms, and service providers integrate with the data-syncing infrastructure built for flex spaces.
Increasingly, flex space success could realistically come down to how well operators can move, trust and leverage data across their business apps, services, providers and partners.
👉 Read this.
🤖 New cowork listing site built and designed in 5 days, by AI. #
Nico shares on twitter that they used AI to build, design and launch CoworkMaps noting that "99% of the app is made by AI. (Logo, code, database & content), so I can focus on adding features users want, and my AI-ssistant will handle the rest."
If AI can build marketplaces/listing platforms, are we going to see even more platforms, or a shift to more differentiation?
👉 Read this.
✅ Global CRE firm launches whitelabelled workplace experience platform. #
Cushman & Wakefield launched their own workplace experience platform called CushAPP (powered by spaceOS) to bring access to amenities within buildings, and enables landlords to optimize operational processes, like space and community management.
Why it matters: Landlords are leveraging tech to provide more hospitality to larger tenants and their employees. As the lines get blurrier between flex offices and coworking, providing the best overall experience will be a differentiator.
👉 Read this.
🧠 Integration co shifts further into improving teams’ productivity #
Syncaroo‘s new home page soft-launched this week, showing that the firm is shifting even further into helping flex space teams become more productive (and toggle far fewer tabs) through integrations, automation and their Assistant browser extension.
Full disclosure, I’m a cofounder of Syncaroo.
👉 Read this.
💳 Visa pushes into AI-commerce #
Simon Taylor shares that Visa have rolled out 3 core technologies to make it easier for Ai Agents to complete shopping or checkout flows.
In case you were wondering, they are 1. tokenization, 2. APIs for inventory parsing, and 3. dispute and chargeback protections.
👉 Read this.
👩💻 Platform makes docking a laptop book the room. #
Brennan McReynolds and Evangeline Grimshaw share how Microsoft Teams-connected devices can now automatically book a desk simply by plugging them into a monitor or docking station.
This sits alongside other upgrades that allow assigned rooms to be update Teams panels to better communicate availability with other coworkers.
👉 Read this.
🦾 Office-as-a-service platform pivots hard into AI assistant space #
Christelle Rohaut breaks her 6-month social media hiatus to introduce Codi‘s pivot from an office-as-a-service platform to an AI Office Assistant platform, helping all kinds of offices centrally manage furniture, cleaning, IT, pantry supplies, and even building requests.
👉 Read this.
🎨 What if every internet page was generated as you browsed? #
Eddie Jiao, who is on a fascinating mission to build and explore new ways to use computers, and colleagues Zain Shah and Drew Carr built a ‘diffusion-based generative graphical user interface’ called Flipbook.
What the bejooglies is that Hector? In short, instead of pages being generated by a server, the pages on Flipbook are generated, animated, and infinitely expanded upon using AI as you go from page to page.
Is it perfect? No. Is it a fun glimpse of what the internet could feel like in the (near) future? Maybe.
👉 Read this.
💵 Remote work tech co in LATAM & Europe raises $2M #
Andrei Cretu shares that Pluria have raised $2M in investment to help more companies leverage their curated network of flexible workspaces and keep remote teams connected.
As mentioned in my recent post on new or growing booking interfaces, keep an eye on what the remote work tech cos are doing, and how they’ll be shifting to focus on sending you more members and revenue.
👉 Read this.
🕰️ 100 hours of customer discussion went into this upgrade #
"We spent 100 hours talking to coworking operators and members about how bookings actually happen", writes LIva Kacara, Product Designer at Nexudus.
The pattern was clear: the drop-off isn’t demand, it’s the booking experience, with too many steps, too many redirects, and too much friction. So they rebuilt the Nexudus Members Portal as a zero-commission storefront (with a drag-and-drop page builder thrown in), so people can book and pay directly from your website, in one flow.
👉 Read this.
📬 Virtual mailbox platform selected for AWS Impact Accelerator #
PilotoMail were one of the 20 companies selected to be supported by Amazon AWS as part of their $30M commitment to provide underrepresented founders with the resources, capital, and community they need to level the startup playing field.
The 8 week program kicks off this week in Seattle and closes with a pitch day in NYC (including the Nasdaq Closing Bell ceremony). Congrats to the Piloto team and the other 19 selected companies!
👉 Read this.
↘️ Are we seeing a race to the bottom in software pricing? #
Carlos Almansa Ballesteros, CEO at Nexudus, shares an interesting piece on why their firm doesn’t offer new customer discounts.
Seems like shots are being fired at the other software vendors who may be doing so. If so, is there a race to the bottom happening, in which software becomes a commodity, is unsustainable to support and develop and eventually gets gobbled up by the next monolithic software company?
It’s interesting to hear this, given that I speak to A LOT of operators around their software choices. Even though price is a big piece of the decision making process, it’s not always THE deciding factor. Want to know what is? Watch this space or reply to the email version.
👉 Read this.
🎮 A new meeting room booking platform enters the game #
Tjeerd Bongers shares that Wezoo (a meeting room booking platform) has launched in the Netherlands with a number of local workspace providers and early-adopters from StartDock, HNK Workspaces, ScaleHub Offices, Office Improvers and Tribes.
👉 Read this.
💡 Platform launches to sell “work & play” day passes. #
Mita Carriman announced the soft-launch of the new Adventurely, "a marketplace for remote work day passes that blend work & play in hospitality spaces all around the world".
This is an interesting concept that steps aside from the usual listings of coworking desks or cafés with plug sockets on similar platforms. Could there be an opportunity here for clever partnerships between a yoga studio and coworking space (or a space with yoga/classes/etc) to attract new remote workers through platforms like these?
👉 Read this.
Coworking data.
📊 2023 Coworking Space Business Trends preliminary report #
DeskMag share the first findings of the 2023 Global Coworking Survey ft. answers from 278 individuals across Europe (64%), North America (21%) and other continents (15%).
Key takeaways: 48% of coworking spaces see member acquisition as their biggest challenge., followed by high RE prices (31%) and financial constraints (28%). Rural coworking spaces aren’t seeing all the benefits of remote work, with only 25-30% of rural operators reporting that business is good, as oppose to spaces in large cities where 60% report a good business situation.
👉 Read this.
📜 800+ coworking locations closed permanently during the pandemic #
Ben Wright shares 5 interesting insights around the 800+ locations that were closed permanently since the start of the pandemic, alongside demand data from Upsuite.
_In short they are that operators are looking for larger spaces, 1/3 of those that closed were reopened (often by other operators or with single tenants), who took over the most of their competitors’ closed locations, and that there may still be moves being made on the larger of the closed spaces. _
👉 Read this.
📉 VODI shows end of 20-month growth streak #
The latest VTS Office Demand Index quarterly report notes that although the index was up a modest 4.6%, looking closer it masked declines in Jan and Feb that ended a 20-month streak of year-over-year growth.
On a local level San Francisco’s VODI jumped 31.7%, while Boston, Seattle and Washington DC all saw 20% growth. NYC and LA saw drops of 4.7% and 12.9% respectively.
👉 Read this.
💳 Where did 50k businesses spend? There’s an MCP for that. #
Ian Macomber shares that Ramp Data is now accessible via Claude as a connector.
While not specifically a data set, this does brings a direct way for you to query, say what 50,000+ businesses are spending on office space, right inside Anthropic’s AI interfaces.
👉 Read this.
🇮🇳 Operator in India reports profitability, expecting 33% growth #
WeWork India have reported their first profitable quarter in Q1, with Rs. 250 crore in revenue (~$32M) and around 10% in profits at EBITA (I believe that’s not community adjusted).
CEO Karan Virwani predicts a 33% growth with revenue up 4x to Rs. 1,000 crore on the back of strong demand for flexible workspaces, they also attributed increased floor space and upselling of existing customers as strong factors for growth.
Why is this in the newsletter? The Indian coworking market is currently the second (if not first already) biggest in the world. A lot of trends from this market can act as indicators for other geographic markets.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Flex occupancy hits 83% in UK #
According to latest research by The Instant Group, flexible workspace locations in the UK achieved their highest ever occupancy levels, with overall occupancy at 83% and nearly half (42%) of spaces reporting 90% occupancy.
In the core UK cities of Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and Edinburgh flex vacancy rates have dropped between Q4 2021 and Q4 2022. While traditional office vacancy rates have increased in the same time period.
👉 Read this.
💼 3 shifts in office requirements for 1000s of companies #
Phil Kirschner shares Rob Sadow’s summary of the Q2 Flex Index report.
In it we see that "Structured Hybrid" models are becoming more popular (30% in Q2 from 20% in Q1), "Full Time In Office" becoming less common (down from 49% to 42%), and even large tech firms shifting towards Structured Hybrid models (up from 28% to 39%).
👉 Read this.
📲 Newmark’s flex space app shares 2023 results #
Optality, Newmark’s flex space booking platform that’s powered by Upflex, shared their first annual results.
In summary the app led to $1M+ in total contract value across 27 signed contracts, over $600k we committed to on-demand bookings throughout the year, and a user-base of 1.5k individuals.
👉 Read this.
💂♀️ Q2’s average full-time and fractional office prices in London #
Henry Burn graciously shared an un-gated version of Hubble‘s Q2 London Market Rent Guide.
The document runs over the average rates for both full-time offices and part-time (aka fractional) offices across the UK’s capital, based on 5k offices on the Hubble platform.
👉 Read this.
🚶♀️ How walkability affecting office utilization in NYC #
Gabe Marans from Savills shared an observation gathered directly from clients in NYC that indicated that the walking distance from transit was indirectly proportional.
"Buildings within a 10-minute walk of Grand Central or Penn are thriving. At 15 minutes, interest slows. Go beyond that, and vacancy rates rise fast."
👉 Read this.
🇳🇿 NZ market report shows 6% growth #
SharedSpace.co.nz shared their 2025 Market Report, with key takeaways that there are now 205 coworking and flex spaces across the nation, averaging 930 sqm each. This brings the total square footage of flex spaces in NZ to 2,023,615 sqft.
_Other averages include the permanent desks occupancy (57%) and price ($640); and the private office occupancy (80%) and price ($882). _
👉 Read this.
🤔 What do they *really* think about flex? #
81% of office landlords, asset managers and property advisors surveyed plan to expand their flex offerings further in the next 1-3 years.
Alan Pepper shared Orega‘s latest independent study. In it we learn that the main drivers of flex growth is the need to attract and retain tenants; and to improve tenant experience across the WHOLE building.
👉 Read this.
Coworking market moves.
💰 US-based operator buys into Europe and APAC markets #
Craig Robinson shares the news that Industrious have expanded through acquisitions in both Europe and APAC markets.
The US-based firm acquired Great Room (with locations in Singapore, Bangkok & Hong Kong) and Welkin & Meraki (with locations in Paris, Brussels & the Netherlands).
The linked article also notes that CEO Jamie Hodari said that the firm aims to double its international presence, but was not considering raising further capital, "unless timing is right and capital markets are receptive".
Interestingly the Bloomberg report also mentions that their revenue run rate is $250M, and that revenues for the last quarter of ’21 were up 37% from the previous quarter, in comparison to WeWork‘s 9% increase over the same period.
👉 Read this.
🔨 Could we still see WeWork go private and resold? #
Keith Larsen from TheRealDeal shares an increasingly popular theory around why Yardi took a majority stake of WeWork, in that the former is looking to "fix and then flip" the latter for a "small profit". It’s possible, but given the other properties Yardi owns in coworking, there still could be a pure
Even though I did call it that Yardi would become a WeWork investor back in 2013, I did then call that IWG would land up acquiring WeWork for the franchise play, I may still be ‘in the money’ as they say.
However, since then, a new player has started making waves with acquisitions within the franchise space. Could we see Vast Coworking Group move in here? What if Yardi takes WeWork private first?
👉 Read this.
🛴 Newest Coworking Perk: Electric Scooters? #
Unagi – a high-end, e-scooter manufacturer is launching exclusive shared scooter service that will see its slick e-scooters available to rent at hotels, luxury apartments and coworking spaces.
“Unagi on Demand,” as the offering is called, is kicking off at the Hoxton Hotel in Los Angeles, as well as Common Luxury Apartments, Nap York Sleeping Pods and The Yard Coworking in New York City.
“Unagi is a perfect fit with the culture, community, and design focus of our coworking spaces.” said Michelle Segev, senior operations manager at The Yard. “Unagi adds a super convenient transportation amenity to members at the Yard, allowing them to focus on their business rather than the logistics of running errands and getting to meetings around the city”
👉 Read this.
🇨🇦 Fractional Offices picking up steam in Canada, and elsewhere. #
Justin Raymond from Flexday shares that (finally) more and more landlords and operators are leaning into fractional offices, having been one of the early pioneers of the category with Flexday Suites back in June 2022.
"Examples include Oxford Properties and their OxWorx initiative, MRP in DC and their HeyDay product, Tram Developments working with Cushman & Wakefield brokers to market fractional offerings and even iQ Offices and their new Sprint Spaces – now available though Flexday."
👉 Read this.
👷♀️ Firm awarded $3.65M to build Grand Rapids community #
Amanda Lewan shared that Bamboo are partnering with Midwest House and Start Garden for their new location in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Bamboo received a $1.25M grant + a $2.4M loan from the start to renovate the building that previously housed Urban Institute for Contemporary Art gallery and movie theater. A big vote of support for the team that are looking to re-open the theatre, add coworking to "foster community and create density, serving as a central welcoming place for technologists, founders, and organizations to collaborate together."
👉 Read this.
💭 Another strategy behind Yardi’s WeWork stake: aggregation #
Nick LiVigne from The Instant Group shares that Yardi’s move makes a lot of strategic sense, especially when you look at their quiet moves into workspace marketplaces and aggregation. WeWork gives them a brand, digital assets, and all-access & on-demand products that give them further positioning.
Note: It’s a strategy that’s actually very similar to Instant’s, and something I shared as worth noting last week.
👉 Read this.
🚊 Coworking added to US train stations (and commuter cars) #
Jamie Hodari shares that Industrious has been tapped by Brightline Trains to activate coworking spaces in both train stations and commuter cars.
"When Industrious tested outdoor workspaces a few years back, spots sold out in minutes. People don’t just accept new work environments—they crave them. They’re curious about them. The truth is, people are already working in trains, in stations, in airports, in hotels — so it’s less about bringing work to places it doesn’t currently exist. It’s about making it a more delightful and humane experience."
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Local operator opens new site, at 100% occupancy. #
x+why share that their new location in Marylebone, London is now open and at 100% occupancy.
👉 Read this.
🇳🇱 B. gets a new managing director #
Alexa Lightner shares that 7 years to the day after moving to Amsterdam, she started as the new Managing Director at B. Amsterdam.
For folks in/around coworking back in 2013, you’ll remember Alexa from her involvement with Workbar in Boston.
👉 Read this.
🚀 Vast launches standalone virtual receptionist franchise #
After more than 30 years of building one of the original virtual office franchises, Intelligent Office (IO) is spinning out its most in-demand service into a standalone concept. South Florida-based parent company Vast Coworking Group has officially launched Intelligent Assistant (IA), a virtual receptionist and admin support services franchise built on a model that’s already handling more than 150,000 calls per month.
Multi-unit franchise owner Ryan Harris was also appointed as President of both IO and IA brands.
👉 Read this.
🛎 Managed space operator announces first NYC location #
Steve Coulson shares that Kitt are launching their first NYC location near Union Square at 900 Broadway in partnership with Justin Management.
👉 Read this.
🇺🇸 Intelligent Office opens in Rosslyn #
Intelligent Office has opened a new location in the Rosslyn area.
After more than ten years serving the community in the tax and accounting industry, three local business partners are launching a new coworking space, Intelligent Office Rosslyn.
👉 Read this.
💆♂️ Local operator announces Wellness Center #
Charlotte Kirby announced their Wellness Center at The Village Hive Coworking to provide mental health and wellness professionals with the option to book an office by the hour or by the day without the overhead cost of renting an office by the month as well as the opportunity of being part of our supportive coworking community.
👉 Read this.
🎨 Industrious doubles size of popular NYC location #
Jamie Hodari shares that his "favorite Industrious in the world" is expanding. The space on 860 Broadway (in Andy Warhol’s former art studio) was filled up on day 1 of opening, and so is doubling in size.
👉 Read this.
🇺🇸 Industrious pens 10th metro Atlanta hub #
Hannah Wiesner shares that Industrious are set to open their 10th metro Atlanta location, in Roswell.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Wellness-focussed flex space operator announces Holborn location #
Bethany Coyle shares that Uncommon are launching a new location in Holborn, London, with memberships starting at £750+VAT per month.
The space features a café, roof terrace, lounge, event/meeting space, wellness studio, focus zones, showers and is dog friendly. London is def one of the most competitive flex space markets on the planet.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Flexico opens Knaresborough office hub #
Flexico Workspace, part of Wizu Workspace, is set to open a 7500sq ft workspace at Hexagon House in Knaresborough next month.
ICYMI, this marks the 19th Flexico workspace.
👉 Read this.
🇦🇺 APAC network shares new Melbourne location #
The Flexi Group shared a first look at The Hive – the newest space to join their Australian portfolio in Melbourne, in partnership with Hirsch & Faigen.
Who are Flexi Group? You may remember that I introduced them back in week 49, 2022 through a 3-way merger.
👉 Read this.
🎍 Bamboo launches in Ann Arbor #
Amanda Lewan shares that Bamboo Ann Arbor has opened. This is their 3rd location, with a 4th in the works. Watch this space.
👉 Read this.
✂️ Venture X Chandler opening on May 14th #
Venture X Chandler will host a community and ribbon-cutting grand opening event on May 14.
The space will be led by Ryan Naylor and Brooke Naylor, long-time Arizona residents.
👉 Read this.
🗽 Fractional office co launches NYC launch. #
Following the fractional offices trend we’ve been monitoring, Christelle Rohaut and Zachary Brown share Codi’s launch of their HybridHQ product in NYC.
In short an office in nomad area of Manhattan, with 14 desks, over 2,150sqft, with 2 conference rooms, and 2 bathrooms is available for 3 days a week.
👉 Read this.
🇳🇿 IWG signs 20th NZ center #
Erika Jury shares that IWG have now officially signed their 20th New Zealand center with an HQ opening at 275 Cuba Street in Wellington.
👉 Read this.
⛪️ Convene opens new flagship location at St Paul’s #
Ryan Simonetti shares Convene’s second London location at Sancroft, St Paul’s.
"Set to open in Q1 2024, this addition will support local demand for meeting and event spaces and will offer a 900-person grand hall, the largest above-ground meeting space in the City of London."
👉 Read this.
🇺🇸 NYC getting a new Malin #
Charlie Robinson shares that The Malin are expanding with their first event + work location in NYC in Chelsea.
The 20k sqft location is once again in partnership with TF Cornerstone, following successful collabs in NoMad and Washington DC.
👉 Read this.
🇸🇦 Emirati brand expands into Saudi Arabia #
Emirati coworking brand Cloud Spaces has 6th location in the Gulf area, with a 2k sqm site in Saudi Arabia, their first in the kingdom.
👉 Read this.
🥩 Charlotte getting two Switchyards clubs #
Kayla Gottschalk shares that Switchyards are opening two neighborhood work clubs soon and that memberships at both (Belmont and Oakhurst) locations are now available.
👉 Read this.
🇦🇺 Instant continues their M&A marathon Down Under #
The Instant Group (or Worka, whenver they finish their rebrand) have announced another acquisition. This time they are bringing in the team and experience of Navigate Property Consulting to "delivery and service capability across the region".
👉 Read this.
🆕 Strive adds a new Ann Arbor location #
Flex Workspace Solutions shared that they have a new managed location in Strive Ann Arbor. This location in Michigan, sits alongside managed locations under the Strive Workspaces network in Texas, Florida and Massachusetts.
👉 Read this.
🇫🇮 Epicenter expands to transform 100-year-old block #
Epicenter Helsinki shared that they’re expanding from Mikonkatu 9 to Mikonkatu 7 and Aleksanterinkatu 13, turning a historical industrial block into an innovation hub.
_The expansion is in cooperation with pension insurance company Ilmarinen. _
👉 Read this.
🇦🇺 A brand refresh 14 years in the making #
Ophelie Cutier and the Spacecubed team share that 14 years after they were founded in Perth (with a clear mission to support 1 million members) they’re refreshing their brand.
"This brand refresh marks the beginning of our next chapter, evolving from a single ecosystem into a connected platform built around four pillars: Locations, Programs, Ecosystem and Capital."
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Jamie Russo and Ann Long discuss expanding Burbity Workspaces from 4k sqft of coworking space, to 28k sqft of coworking space + 12k sqft of cowarehousing space through management agreements.
**Guy Raz **chats with Miguel McKelvey about the WeWork IPO, the Apple TV series and what he’s been working on since leaving the firm after going public.
James Nash chats with Caleb Parker on the #WorkBold podcast about ActiveScore and how it helps buildings amplify their customer experience and wellbeing value to customers, by improving their sustainable transport offerings.
Marc Navarro sits down with Uri Iskin of HIT on The Flex Factor podcast by Spacebring to talk about the challenges of working with landlords, the complicated world of brokers, and what the future actually holds for flexible workspaces.
Ben Wright and Jamie Russo discuss the ‘holy grail for many flexible workspace operators’ – attracting enterprise members.
On the Flex Uncensored podcast Giovanni Palavicini and Jamie Russo dive deep with Arian Lewis, founder of Kiln and former head of global partnerships at Barclays, to unpack the evolution of flex from “startup scrappiness” to a full-on solution for enterprise clients.
Douglas Green shares two reasons why building owners are entering into joint ventures with experienced flex workspace operators.
Launch Workplaces CEO Mike Kriel explains why flexible office space is sometimes a situationship for landlords and building owners, not love at first sight or a long-term relationship, and why short-term arrangements that work for right now are still a win for everyone.
Anne Olsen chats with Fanny Marcoux on A very special coworking podcast episode to dig into how she landed up in coworking, her (audacious) goals for The Shop and where the industry is going.
Lisette Van Doorn and Caleb Parker unpack the ULI-Instant report and uncover the hurdles real estate companies face in the first episode of Season 9 of the #WorkBold podcast.
Arian Lewis chats with Liz Elam about how missteps, crypto Mondays, revitalization, and nay sayers all played their part in today’s success at Kiln on the GCUC Coworking Podcast.
Brian Chen from ROOM chats with Liz Elam about everything from hybrid work, modular design, sustainability, interest rates, SVB and so much more on the GCUC Coworking Podcast.
Eva Sanz of Locus Workspace in Prague joins Bernie Mitchell on the Coworking Values Podcast to explain how their unique approach to community management transforms a typical coworking day into an opportunity for creating lasting friendships and professional networks.
Ben Wright from The Instant Group chats with Giovanni Palavicini, and guest host Kurt Patrick, on the Flex Uncensored podcast about his journey in the flex space industry and touches on the challenges of acquisitions and consolidating the industry.
*Corrected to list Kurt as the guest host.
Jessie Hathcock shares her journey from community coordinator to president of The Loading Dock, how "unreasonable hospitality" is a budget line item for them, and the messy middle with Jamie Russo on the Everything Coworking podcast.
Giovanni Palavicini hosts Jim Groves from Rubberdesk on the Flex Uncensored podcast to dig into the drive for more transparency and data in flex office markets.
📆 Coworking events.
🌍 1st European Coworking Day with 75 spaces in 15 countries #
May 10: On top of open house and special on-site events, some hybrid and virtual events invite everyone to join in. And it’s still possible to sign up as a coworking space
👉 Read this.
🧮 Convo: Attracting different generations #
May 26: Attracting different generations to your coworking space can be a challenge. How can you market your space and create a sense of community that appeals to different age groups? Let’s chat about it.
👉 Read this.
👋 Discuss this newsletter. #
13 May: Discuss this week’s links, the news and the trends they represent with other readers and operators.
👉 Read this.
💬 FlexWorld 2024 #
May 21: FlexWorld returns for their 2024 series, promising to be the most innovative and groundbreaking coworking conference of the year. Designed to unleash the latest trends, strategies, and technologies shaping the future of flexible workspaces, FlexWorld is a gathering of some of the most forward-thinking industry leaders, workspace operators, innovators, and professionals from around the globe.
Event produced by newsletter-supporting brand OfficeRnD
👉 Read this.
🇪🇺 European Coworking Day 2024 #
The second edition of the European Coworking Day is approaching, and the crowdsourced map of coworking-promoting events is filling up. It’s still possible to participate by submitting an Open House day or other event.
👉 Read this.
🐝 GCUC UK Returns to Manchester this June! #
GCUC UK, the world’s leading coworking conference series, is returning to Manchester for a second year, with the main event taking place at MediaCity’s Content Studio, in Salford on Wednesday 11 June 2025, followed by exclusive tours of Manchester’s top coworking spaces on Thursday 12 June 2025.
Following the success of last year’s event, GCUC UK is delighted to bring it back to this incredible city. Manchester is special, and so are its people.
As the coworking sector continues to redefine the future of work, GCUC UK Manchester 2025 will once again bring together industry leaders, workspace operators, investors, and innovators for two days of thought-provoking discussions, networking, and knowledge-sharing in one of the UK’s most dynamic creative hubs.
As coworking continues to reshape the way we work, live, and connect, GCUC UK invites coworking operators, workspace professionals, property leaders, and creative entrepreneurs to be part of the conversation.
GCUC UK Manchester 2025 takes place at Content Studio, MediaCity on 11 June, with exclusive coworking space tours across the city on 12 June 2025.
Tickets are available now. Secure your spot and be part of the future of work.
👉 Read this.
🆕 The New Members Portal Experience – Session 1 #
Join Nexudus for a three-part webinar series where we’ll explore the all-new Members Portal experience. We’ll take you through everything from the fresh interface and the new drag-and-drop editor to a step-by-step guide on migrating your community. Whether you’re looking to refresh your brand or automate your revenue, this series covers the essentials of moving to our most advanced portal yet.
Session 1: Introducing the New Members Portal
Join us for a 30-minute live webinar on the new Members Portal. We’ll walk you through the new interface and highlight the key features designed to improve your members’ experience. This session is perfect for anyone looking to understand the benefits of migrating and how the new portal can help drive engagement and simplify your operations.
👉 Read this.
🤗 Convo: Creating a space of belonging #
27 May: How do you foster a culture of belonging in your space? Let’s chat about it.
👉 Read this.
🆕 The New Members Portal Experience- Session 2 #
Join Nexudus for a three-part webinar series where we’ll explore the all-new Members Portal experience. We’ll take you through everything from the fresh interface and the new drag-and-drop editor to a step-by-step guide on migrating your community. Whether you’re looking to refresh your brand or automate your revenue, this series covers the essentials of moving to our most advanced portal yet.
Session 2: Designing with the Drag-and-Drop Editor
In this session, we’ll show you how to take full creative control of your portal using the new drag-and-drop editor. We’ll demonstrate how to customise your layout, add new content blocks, and tailor the user experience to match your brand – all without needing any coding skills. See firsthand how easy it is to build a professional, bespoke home for your members.
👉 Read this.
🆕 The New Members Portal Experience – Session 3 #
Join Nexudus for a three-part webinar series where we’ll explore the all-new Members Portal experience. We’ll take you through everything from the fresh interface and the new drag-and-drop editor to a step-by-step guide on migrating your community. Whether you’re looking to refresh your brand or automate your revenue, this series covers the essentials of moving to our most advanced portal yet.
Session 3: Migration & Embeddable Portal Widgets
This session focuses on the practical steps of moving to the new portal. We’ll walk through the migration process and introduce the embeddable portal widgets, showing you how to integrate the widgets directly into your website.
👉 Read this.