๐ The Video Summary
This Week is sponsored by…PackageX
The PackageX team recently shared some insightful data they gathered from processing around 1 million package deliveries received by coworking spaces around the world.
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๐ Coworking celebrations.
7๏ธโฃ 7 Years of creating community
Happy 7th Anniversary, Alkaloid! Coworking is the glue that keeps us togetherโthanks for supporting local workers and businesses for the last seven years!ย
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๐ GCF turns 7 too.
Thank you, German Coworking Federation for enabling coworking communities across Germany (and surrounding areas) for 7 years.
๐ Read this.
๐ง Indy Commons turns 5!
Massive congrats to this rural coworking community that offers office space, kitchen space, a market, and hosts events.
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5๏ธโฃ 42workspace also turns 5!
Ohad Gilad shares a surprise they got from a partner to celebrate 5 years of supporting tech startups.
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โ Coworking impact.
๐ Global platform launches their #withinUkraine campaign
From today on Upflex contributing directly to local Ukrainian operators will be as easy as booking a desk or meeting room as part of #withinUkraine, the global cross-platform campaign
All funds collected for bookings are sent directly to operators to support the work they’re doing to support local communities and refugees.
๐ Read this.
๐บ๐ฆ Booking platform shares open letter from Ukrainian hosts
NearU recently reached out to their Ukrainian host parters, Creative States and COSPO, to share their updates, donation pages, and an open letter to the coworking industry.
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Coworking news & views.
๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ Up to ยฃ5k available for Welsh venues to join coworking project
A new project is launching in Denbighshire, Swansea and the Vale of Glamorgan to champion more flexible ways of working and give local venues a new lease of life.
Cowork Local aims to support local businesses by having people work within their own communities. Not only will this give people the benefits of working closer to home – getting up later, ditching the commute and saving money – but it will also give them a professional environment to work within, without the distractions and difficulties of living and working from the same space.
The organisers are now calling for venues to sign up and give their space a new lease of life by offering flexible working opportunities and business support to the community around them.
Venue owners who apply before June 2022 may be eligible for a grant of up to ยฃ5k to cover the cost of setting up, including marketing and photography, before they are ready to welcome coworkers and generate extra income.
๐ Read this.
๐ From a tactic to a strategy.
Anthony Slumbers returns with a follow-up of his 2019 Propmodo article called “#SpaceAsAService: The Trillion Dollar Hashtag” with this fascinating long-read.
They explore the effects of improvements in AI, the shift from workers to creators, automation, and if their 8 critical factors for space as a service still stand true.
๐ Read this.
๐ข UK public retailer shifts HQ to hybrid mix
Dan Rubel shares how (and why) UK public tech retailer Currys plc have made a move from traditional office space for their HQ, and into flex workspaces provided by WeWork.
The deal gives their 1,400 staff members access to 40 locations, and secured permanent space for 400 near Waterloo station, alongside converting unused space in stores into office space.
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๐ท Did Currys just save over ยฃ9M by shifting to coworking?
Dave Cairns originally posted some maths around how much Currys saved by shifting to a 400-pax membership at WeWork from a traditional lease. He was challenged that should have compared a 400-pax lease with the 400-pax membership (instead of the original 1,400 office against the membership), so he did.
Even with an estimated annual payment to the coworking operator of ยฃ3.47M ($4.86M) the total savings compared to a traditional office for the same 400 seats would be over ยฃ9.4M ($12.35) through the shift.
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๐คฏ A quick pro-tip to improve your coworking marketing
Cat Johnson shares another great marketing tip on how to improve your coworking space’s marketing.
Spolier alert: it’s to spend more time talking to your community.
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๐ป Coworking technology.
๐ฒ Syncing platform builds new WMS integration in 11 days.
Syncaroo announced a new integration with the workspace management system (WMS) andcards this week. What’s impressive (and I believe game-changing) about this announcement is that the entire integration process went from a discussion, through planning, into development, and being implemented into the Private Beta in just 11 days.
This adds a 5th integrated WMS into the ecosystem alongside Cobot, Nexudus, officernd, and Satellite Deskworks. But with the speed of this deployment, we could see a rapid increase in the number of management systems live-syncing inventory and bookings with aggregators, brokers, and website widgets.
๐ Read this.
๐งน CRE firm introduces cleaning offering.
Jamie Lawson shares that JLL has just introduced a new product called Dynamic Cleaning.
Using sensors, they can coordinate janitorial services optimizing up to 15% in operational costs. Reminds me of the startup I shared back in w42/21 that was building office cleaning robots as part of their workspace operating system.
๐ Read this.
๐ฌ๐ง UK platform adds instant booking integration.
Tally Market has announced a direct integration with OfficeRnD enabling teams to book workspaces in seconds.
The integration allows customers of the app to book a vast range of meeting rooms and private offices in seconds. The integration automatically checks the availability of venues using the management system. If available – they can be booked in seconds.
Going to say it again, live-availability integrations are going to be a huge topic this year.
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๐ฒ Management software co pivots to booking pass
Version 2 of DropDesk Pass is launching today on Product Hunt. CEO Graham Beck shares that although their co “started as a coworking management software, but we soon realized after Covid-19 that there was so much more potential” and that they were “onboarding over 5,000 locations”.
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โ๏ธSun, sea and.. spreadsheets? Booking app expands into Barbados
Booking platform, NearU, continue their global rollout recently partnering with TEN Habitat in Bridgetown, Barbados, to help make more dreams of coworking in the sun a reality.
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Coworking data.
๐ Most hybrid workers give Mondays & Fridays a miss
Back in w45/21 NearU shared that 40% of desk bookings were for Thursdays. Their newest dataset highlights that hybrid workers still prefer the “TWT” week structure and working from home on Mondays and Fridays.
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๐ฎ๐ฑ State of flex in Israel
Eran Avital shares The Instant Group‘s flex market review for Israel.
Key takeaway is that demand for flex surged 51% in 2021, alongside a 136% increase in equity investment in Israeli tech co’s.
Note: Unfortunately the report is behind an email gate.
๐ Read this.
Coworking market moves.
๐ฉ๐ช An operator, a VC and a landlord walk into a house.
Ansgar Oberholz shares that VC PropTech1, landlord GSG Berlin, and coworking operator St. Oberholz are collaborating on a new 1,500 sqm workspace and community built across five floors as a meeting point for start-ups, associations, and investors who focus on real estate innovation.
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๐ฐ Indian coworking firm raises $4M
iSprout have raised a pre-Series A round of $4M, with a major part of that going to building proprietary tech and automating critical processes. They are also planning a $10M round to expand their footprint across the country says Sreeni Tirdhala their CMO.
I do hope Sundari Patibandla’s tech team have checked out Syncaroo for those automation tasks.
๐ Read this.
๐ฐ New CoLiving Startup Fundraising
Here’s an interesting investment play- a “new” version of co-living planning to open in Asheville called Aashna. It’s eco/wellness focused, offering both housing & workspace in urban environments, and is raising funds through an equity-based crowdfunding round.
Depending on the success of this raise, could we see a resurgence in equity/other crowdfunding rounds for community-focussed coworking spaces or expansions? They’re currently sitting at 226% of their minimum goal ($56,727 of $25k), but have set a max raise amount of $1.07M.
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๐ฝ How, and why, flex is being adopted by NYC landlords
Aaron Short shares that New York’s Class B and C office owners are also leaning towards flex space. The piece mentions that due to market volatility these landlords have accepted deals on terms as short as six months.
The article shares some interesting insights, including that even landlords who are concerned following the changes at Knotel and Breather are exploring and adding flex options to their properties. Also interesting is that that the average price of a private office in NYC is $961, campared to $803 in London and $800 in Berlin.
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๐ฌ๐ง Operator tapped to run 27k sqft of flex space in Birmingham
Spacemade share that they’ve been appointed by CBRE Investment Management to deliver and manage the flex space in one of the city’s largest property developments at 10 Brindley Place.
It will include private studios and coworking space for more than 500 people, meeting room and podcast facilities, a coffee shop and roastery, and a 2,000 sq ft auditorium and event space.
๐ Read this.
๐ Coworking conversations.
Jamie Russo discusses the power of niche coworking spaces.
๐ง Listen to this.
๐ Coworking events.
๐โโ๏ธ London Coworking Assembly April Breakfast
Apr 12: The April London Coworking Assembly Breakfast, will host a discussion about designing a more inclusive and equitable coworking future.
๐ Read this.
๐ช๐ธ Coworking Spain 2022: The Challenges of Coworking and Co-living
Apr 26-27: 70% of this high-quality and curated content will be presented in English, and there will also be an in-person keynote from Igor from the Ukraine Coworking Association.
๐ Read this.