Introducing Coworking Brand Profiles.
Ever wanted a deeper look at the brands mentioned in these newsletters? Learn more about what they’ve been up to, for how long, where, and who the key people of influence are via Brand Profiles.
Today we launch the beta with 20+ brand profiles and one question: What would YOU like to know about the spaces, vendors, and people building towards the future of coworking?
Brand links within summaries will also point to these profiles so you can quickly dive deeper to flesh out your market insights.
(Don’t see your brand? Get in touch, to get set up with Brand Mode)
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📰 Coworking news & views.
🕺 Seen this viral hula hoop challenge video? #
Gemma Stow shares a video of two groups doing a hula hoop challenge, and how one group is soooo much better at it than others. The post highlights how important it is to have diversity around decision-making tables.
Spoiler: The women absolutely nailed the challenge, whilst the men’s group did… not.
🤗 Same-day mental health services, on the high street #
Chance Marshall shares that Self Space have launched offering contemporary mental health services, 7 days a week in Shoreditch, Borough, Soho, Kings Cross (London), Manchester, and online.
I absolutely love that people can now get same-day appointments with psychologists, psychotherapists and counsellors with no waiting lists. My question for Chance and Self Space is this: how quickly can we bring these into every coworking space with street-level access?
🔦 How to build engaging member spotlights #
Taylor Mason from talemaker shares their secret sauce for putting together and publishing engaging member spotlights (the kind of content where you toot the horn of your existing members).
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💻 Coworking technology.
🎤 Community space booking platform hits record month #
Felix Atkin shares that Sharesy, a UK-based "venue hire platform for community spaces", had a record month exceeding £200k in bookings for the first time. We all know event revenue is a big piece of the coworking puzzle, no surprise more platforms are coming in to connect people to spaces in this area.
(Also, Alexandra Richardson shows off some uber egg-balancing skills in the video)
📈 Coworking data.
🌍 Market report shows less than 4% growth in European flex supply #
Billy Hodges shares the latest European market report from CBRE Flex.
"The amount of flex space across Europe grew by just under 4% in 2023, with around 300,000 sqm of flex stock added to the market. This leaves the flex market steady in relation to the traditional office market at around 2.5% of total European office stock"
Key predictions included that back-to-office mandates may drive more demand to flex spaces, that they’re expecting more core-flex deals to be delivered in 2024, and we could see new demand for managed turnkey office solutions.
🤝 Coworking market moves.
🇺🇸 Office-as-a-service platform opens 36 private offices in LA metro #
Codi, who continuously insists "it’s not a coworking platform" but always positions itself as a "rival to WeWork" have announced that they’ve opened 36 flex offices across greater Los Angeles. The platform notes that they have leased 93k sqft for running private offices across Santa Monica, Culver City and Los Angeles with another 50 locations in the pipeline.
A reminder, Codi leaned heavily into "offices in other peoples’ houses", but seems to be pivoting back to managed private offices. Seems similar to Breather’s original model.
🗽 NYC gets another private members club and coworking space #
Jennie Enterprise’s CORE brand of private member clubs has opened their New York location (following existing locations in Milan and San Fransisco).
Based at 711 Fifth Avenue, it covers four floors with 60,000 square feet of amenity and coworking spaces, plus a 6,000-square-foot private rooftop terrace.
We are watching the ever-thinning grey area between coworking spaces and private member clubs – before the two fully overlap and compete more heavily.
🇮🇳 Indian operator eyes IPO #
Coworking Europe share that BHIVE Workspace is considering an IPO in 2025, aiming to raise around $65M.
Established in 2014, they operate 26 locations, across almost 170.000 sqm. The firm boasts the largest coworking campus in India with over 8000 seats. They aim to increase the number of seats offered by 40% annually, and see revenues surpass $75M within 3 years.
🇨🇭 The Swatch Group closes all it’s coworking spaces #
The Swatch Group, which employs 16,000 people in Switzerland, shared that they’ve decided to close all its coworking spaces in French-speaking Switzerland. The firm’s marketing and IT employees were previously able to work close to home in coworking spaces rather than commuting into the offices.
This access has now been revoked, with the watch maker noting "After a period of experimental testing of the concept on different sites, we decided not to continue the experiment. It turns out that this type of remote work is not conducive to team work."
I’m not sure if they were company-run spaces, or workers had access to 3rd party spaces, but this news is bad for coworking in the region.
🐣 Another coworking space teases childcare amentities #
Nickolaus Violin gives us a teaser of the upcoming Konnekted space. What caught my eye is the "Kid’s Klub" which offers drop-in options for working parents.
Unfortunately I can’t seem to get any more info on how the Kid’s Klub will work, or be priced, but I know that coworking + childcare is a trend that’s due for another resurgence, especially as summer holidays are right around the corner.
🧮 Coworking franchise group shares 2023 numbers #
Vast Coworking Group saw a 21% increase in sales and a 16.5% increase systemwide membership across its Venture X and Office Evolution brands in 2023. The company also opened 11 new locations (9 Venture X; 2 Office Evolution) and added 295,578 square feet to its global footprint across both brands.
The group also promoted several longstanding leaders to its executive team, including Paula Mercer (to Vice President of Vast), Tammy Senter (to Vice President of Operations, Venture X), Brad Johansson (to Vice President of Operations, Office Evolution) and Darcy Masciotro (to Vice President of Operations, Intelligent Office).
👩⚖️ WeWork sets end of Chapter 11 target date #
WeWork announced that they expect to be out of Chapter 11 proceedings in the US and Canada by May 31st 2024.
The announcement also shares that they’ve amended 150 leases, maintained 150 unchanged leases and 150 rejected leases (or negotiated building exits) – reflecting an over $8B saving in future rent obligations (a big 40% reduction).
They do note that they have ‘determined a path forward’ for 90% of their global real estate portfolio, which puts the last 10% in an interesting position for sure. Either way, the firm that went into Chapter 11, is not the firm that will come out. Another Theseus’ Ship.
🇸🇪 Swedish office landlord launches flex space brand #
Swedish real estate developer, Alecta Fastigheter, announced that they would be introducing their own flex workspace brand called Flexiwork. The first location will launch in Gothenburg, followed closely by another at the Folkungagatan/Stampgatan intersection. Lena Boberg, CEO of Alecta Fastigheter, calls the concept "an office department store", depicting the wide variety of options that will be available in one space.
The brand also introduced what they’re calling "Flexitainment" – an activity program that will bring together members via workshops, lectures, mini-concerts, tastings, open pitch stage and other in-person activations.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Anna Squires Levine, Chief Commercial Officer at Industrious, joins Liz Elam on the GCUC podcast to chat about seizing opportunities, the intersection of business & community, and leveraging data and integrating science into coworking.
Tony Bacigalupo shares recording of the recent Belongfulness Project event, where a group of operators and industry leaders discuss the nature of the isolation crisis, the role coworking spaces are already playing and what more can be done to do more.
Lawrence Gellerstedt joins Gio and Jamie on the Flex Uncensored podcast to discuss SwitchYards, his career, family, commitment to being genuine and authentic, mental health struggles and more.
Tracy Wilson chats with Bernie Mitchell all about the origins of coworking, its evolution, and how the industry can take charge of sustainability on the Coworking Values Podcast.
📆 Coworking events.
🇺🇸 GCUC in SLC #
April 9-11: GCUC is hosted in Salt Lake City this year. If you’re there, look out for me for a free high-five or hug.
💬 Convo: Staying Engaged and Inspired as a Community Builder #
April 26: Building community in a coworking space is hard! So how do you stay engaged and inspired? Let’s chat about it!