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✊ Coworking impact.
🚀 Local operator launches residency program #
Sheila Burmistrova shares that Narra Collective are rolling out a residency program, giving 10 local startups, businesses, creatives, creators and builders a boost with a 6-week program, free coworking space, and access to a supportive community and support.
"Not everyone gets a head start. Sometimes they just need one room that believes in them."
👉 Read this.
🚶♀️ 5 million steps for charity #
Abbie Davies shares that during May, the team at HomeWork Workspace will be walking 5 million steps (or 2,500 miles) in support of MIND for Mental Health Awareness month.
👉 Read this.
🧮 Measuring and reporting impact across 15k members in 20 cities. #
Yotam Alroy shared the Mindspace Impact report for 2023.
In it they share that they’ve decreased their global average carbon intensity by 23%, used their platform to empower members to give back to their community (25% of their content and event programming celebrates and raises awareness for these causes), and saw employee-led volunteering projects (in UK, Romania, US, Poland, Israel and the Netherlands).
More impact reports please and thank you!
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Over £50k in hyperlocal impact made #
Vibushan Thirukumar shares Oru Space‘s quarterly impact report. In Q1 they invested £34,137 into social impact, donated £15,075 of workspace, meeting room usage and private office space and more.
I’m a huge fan of these impact reports, and that we’re seeing more and more of them from brands.
👉 Read this.
✅ May IDEA Challenge: Interrupting Unconscious Bias #
Kerry Cavers from Mom’s Against Racism and Acronym Consulting issues this month’s Coworking IDEA Challenge: Interrupting Unconscious Bias.
This challenge takes us back to the basics, and it’s ideal for those near the start of their learning and unlearning journey. Take the challenge online, then register to join Kerry for the workshop on May 23rd 2024. All are welcome!
👉 Read this.
👏 How operators are supporting Dubai’s laid off workers #
Matt Hewitt from OneSpace Dubai shares how a post he made offering free workspace to anyone in Dubai who had recently lost their jobs led to him being overwhelmed with responses.
He’s now calling on other operators and owners to jump in and offer a few desks to support the community… and folks are getting involved.
👉 Read this.
Coworking news & views.
🕵️♀️ What you may have missed about that “Live and Work Anywhere” initiative #
A lot of publications and people shared Airbnb‘s recent announcement and initiative since they went public with it on April 28th.
A lot of the buzz focussed on the five key features of the new remote work policy, and very few even noticed that the first one says ‘work from home or the office’, no mention of third spaces or coworking access/stipends.
However, snuck into the bottom of the announcement is Airbnb making a move further into ‘work tourism’, saying they’re already or going to be working with governments and DMOs to ‘create a one-stop-shop for remote-workers’ through the Live and Work Anywhere initiative. On that program’s website, they mention that one of the criteria that makes a destination ‘remote-working friendly’ is that its easy to work, and list that there should be spaces suitable for co-working (their hyphen, not mine).
And so, non-profit local coworking alliances, there may be a move to be made by partnering with your local govs, destination marketing orgs and Airbnb to bring more remote workers into your region.
👉 Read this.
😖 Is flex in a state of flux? #
David M. Levitt asks if recent closures expose weaknesses of flex office space busieness models. The article (behind a soft paywall hones in on the struggles of daybase and comments from their CEO Joel Steinhaus; WeWork (v1 and v2); and a landlord running flex space as a loss-leader.
In counter-arguments there are some positive snippets though from industrious’ Jamie Hodari, Convene’s Ryan Simonetti, and WeWork’s Annabelle Davis.
My thoughts? This year’s going to get bumpy for flex. Will this create opportunities for some operators? Abso-fudging-lutely.
👉 Read this.
🗺 18 months in – an update on a global firm’s remote work policy. #
Matt Sonefeldt shared Annie Dean post on how Atlassian‘s own team are embracing "TEAM Anywhere", the firm’s distributed work policy giving employees more control over where they live and work.
In it, we see heartwarming stories of humans who could pick to change where in the world they work to how much they commute. We also see some interesting data like how many of their team moved to a new country (300) or to a new state in the US (10%), and how many of their Australian team live outside of Sydney (22%, up from just 7%). They also share that 47% of their new hires live 2+ hours away from an Atlassian office.
They’re making it work, and I’d love to hear from Annie or Matt how their teams leverage coworking spaces to WNH.
👉 Read this.
🤑 $7.6B take-private deal of business park REIT #
Blackstone have agreed to buy PS Business Parks (for those who wanted to know, they’ll pay a 12% premium for $187.50 cash per share) to take the firm private.
The REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) does operator business parks and office buildings, alongside industrial and multifamily properties. It’s also the 3rd REIT Blackstone has acquired this year.
And the reason I think this is interesting for us coworking folks, is that Blackstone will need to find a scalable way to activate the office buildings and business parks. An idea? Flex workspaces. Obviously.
👉 Read this.
🏦 Europe’s largest bank doubles down on Work Cafés #
Banco Santander is accelerating the transformation of its retail branches into Work Cafés – which combine banking services, coworking space and cafés.
As of 2024, they operate 239 such cafés, including 92 in Spain, and others in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
👉 Read this.
📦 Brooklyn gets a coworking space… for AI chatbots. #
Techcrunch reports that in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood sits a new kind of “luxury” coworking space called Chat Haus – with one key differentiator, the space is "for AI chatbots"… well and everything (including the people) are made out of cardboard.
The art exhibition, by Brooklyn artist Nim Ben-Reuven features the slightly ‘animated’ cardboard robots – and a sign that offers desk space for "only" $1,999 per month. The artist wanted to make a humorous point around the loss of freelance work to AI tools.
👉 Read this.
🪴 Free office plants anyone? #
The team at Upflex shared their new partnership with Zauben to give workspace providers free plants (and free delivery) to help cut costs on plant maintenance and care.
This sounds like a great way for operators to order in some office greenery, so I asked the team some follow up Qs. Anyone can claim this offer, but they’re opening it up to Upflex’s network of partner spaces first. While the plants and delivery are free, a plant maintenance plan from Zauben is not – but they are confident that they can reduce your plant care costs by atleast 20%.
👉 Read this.
🙌 On the “recalibration” of coworking… #
This growing, industry-wide realization that coworking was never about the space, is music to the ears of those of us who have championed community-focused coworking for a long time.
Cat Johnson shares that it’s also a call to action for all of us to keep going, to dig deeper, and to move courageously into the future of coworking, taking everything we’ve learned from its evolution from a scrappy movement into a global industry.
👉 Read this.
📐 Is profitability being held back by square footage? #
Forbes shares a piece by PilotoMail‘s Sofia Stolberg that looks at how, even with coworking demand growing 240% on some platforms, the combination of high ops costs, revenue instability, competition and the pandemic make reaching profitability harder.
A sure-fire way to get to higher profits? Breaking away from revenue tied to square footage.
👉 Read this.
🇨🇿 Are Prague’s workspaces shifting like London’s? #
Adam Zvada of Scott.Weber Workspace argues that Prague’s office market is evolving in the same direction as London. Rising demand, limited new office supply, and hybrid work expectations are pushing companies toward “workspace as a service” models that prioritize flexibility, hospitality, community, and employee experience over traditional leased space.
He argues that the future winners in commercial real estate will be providers that understand why people want to come into the office, not just those offering the most square footage.
👉 Read this.
☀️ Female-focussed coworking firm pop-up at former Wing site #
TheRealDeal reports on how Her Workplace is exploring an expansion into The Wing’s former San Fransisco site by first hosting a pop-up coworking and networking day.
ICYMI: Marilynn De Santis, prev with CBRE, launched their NYC location following the same playbook, first hosting a pop-up in an ex-Wing location before signing a month-to-month lease.
👉 Read this.
🏤 Pioneer shares it’s untraditional journey to 4 space #
Audrey Hoyt shares Egan Ward’s interview with her Pioneer Collective co-founder and husband Christopher Hoyt.
Audrey also shares that it’s been a wild ride that started with roughly $50k and a mission to address social isolation among gig workers.
"I don’t know exactly where we are headed but I feel so grateful to have made it to where we are today and to still have the freedom to get to pick out every piece of art and furniture by hand"
👉 Read this.
💭 How building owners think about capital allocation… #
Gosh I love it when folks get geeky with metrics and CRE acronyms. In this post Sam Gamble digs into some of the numbers, formulas and decision-trees office building owners explore when deciding between deploying spec suites, cat a+ buildouts (or partnering with a coworking brand).
Wondering what "Equivalent Monthly Annuity" means? Read on.
👉 Read this.
👎 A leading broker’s frustration with flex reneges #
Gabe Marans (at Savills) voiced his frustration around a situation in which a full-floor renewal was negotiated over weeks, but was reneged for a 10% bump in rates weeks after approving the deal and requesting the paperwork.
"That’s bad faith, plain and simple."
👉 Read this.
🌊 Continued uncertainty & skepticism re: Neumann’s Flow #
Maxim Razmakhin, an entrepreneur with a successful exit under his belt, shared a critical analysis of Flow, Adam Neumann’s new venture following it’s recent new raise of $100M at a $2.5B valuation.
He questions several claims about Flow, including that millennials are permanently priced out of homeownership (ignoring upcoming wealth transfers), that Flow’s tech approach offers unique advantages (when many landlords already use similar tools), and that its coworking integration will disrupt WeWork (despite being a common amenity in luxury buildings).
👉 Read this.
⌛ Fractional offices are real, but not the main event #
Damian Cotter at Nexudus shares what a panel (feat. Mark Goldfinger, Hannah Mojica, Michael Everts, and Kane Willmott) in New York revealed about fractional office trends.
Namely they were: Sprint Spaces, Tues-to-Thurs, Daypasses as lead drivers and how fractional offices are already making up 10-20% of the rev stack.
PS. TWIC readers were tipped off about Fractional Offices in our original Undercurrents edition back in June 2024. Want even more early tip-offs and intel? Check out TWIC Intelligence.
👉 Read this.
💙 Why many people love coworking. #
The allwork team shared a sweet video, featuring some industry leaders, about what coworking means to them.
Hear from (and see) Cat Johnson, Felena Hanson, Brad Krauskopf, Liz Elam, Jamie Russo and Matias Vazquez.
👉 Read this.
😅 Did… did we win?! #
CRE & Hotel investor Brian Friedman breaks down the perceptions around WeWork vs Industrious and why "Coworking won. Most of the industry just hasn’t admitted it yet."
Love this take, and how investors (and cap markets) are changing their viewpoint around leveraging well-executed coworking to turn distressed assets into stabilized cash flows.
👉 Read this.
🎧 Coworking leaders share their own local partnership strategies #
Cat Johnson brought together 4 really smart coworking experts for her monthly Coworking Convo — Anne Olsen from The Shop Workspace, Tim Hasse from General Provision, Sarah Athanas from Groundwork, and our very own Hector Kolonas!
Each expert shared how they viewed, assessed, and managed local partnerships and Coworks wrote up the best takeaways for all to read – which are well worth the read!
👉 Read this.
👋 Does experiential coworking marketing work? #
Colleen Moselle from Coco shares some interesting thoughts following a recent free-for-the-day campaign. Colleen wonders (like many of us have) why free coworking days override usual parking, nearby food options and other objections.
It’s often argued that free days are great for helping people to "experience" coworking and your community. Heck there’s entire continent-wide campaigns to promote running free coworking days. Pro-tip: if you do this, the key is in the follow ups.
Def worth reading the post and enjoying the great photo of Coco’s gorgeous space – but… read the comments from other industry leaders, and folks who attended the coworking day.
👉 Read this.
📃 Cheat-sheet for brokers filling flex space #
Michael Dubicki from Flex Engine shares an interesting one-pager to help brokers who are helping clients with flex space requests to qualify the scope and help pin-point the right buildings and operators for each lead.
Always good to see what office brokers may/should be asking, and seeing where you and your brand fit within the matrix.
👉 Read this.
🤔 BIG coworking just opened next door. Now what?! #
As a small or medium sized coworking space operator, a big chain opening nearby can instinctively feel like a threat. Cobot breaks down why it can actually work in your favor, and what to do so the members who don’t fit the chain find your space instead.
👉 Read this.
🔨 Rural coworking & community hub gains traction #
The Bakersfield Californian has an excellent write up this week on Sierra Shared Spaces‘ first Community Hub. The co-creation process is underway, led by Justin Powers and Ashley Proctor and it’s exciting to see the community be a part of developing and planning the space from the earliest stages!
This Community Hub is going to cater to the unique needs of this underserved rural community, including being a valuable resource during natural disasters, and supporting the local business and nonprofit communities.
👉 Read this.
😵💫 “But what is a managed office anyways?” #
Ralph Dorey (MD at beem, prev. MD, UK at Industrious) breaks through some of the confusion landlords, agents, brokers and end-users have around what "managed offices" actually mean, and why they can range in prices.
An underlying message is ‘tiers’ of service and quality. Another call for even more taxonomy and categorization, given that managed offices could be seen by many (like myself) as a SKU of coworking products._
👉 Read this.
🇭🇺 Hungarian coworking spaces offer special deals for Open Week #
Szilvia Filep from Coworking Hungary shares that Open Coworking Week will take place across Hungary from May 12-16, 2025, offering free trial days and significant discounts at participating coworking spaces in Budapest and other cities. Multiple locations are participating, including Create 26, HOM12, Impact Hub Budapest, and Liftoff coworking in the capital, plus several countryside options like Door Office (Szeged), Jungle Coworking (Szeged), DOTS Coworking (Eger), Katedra Coworking (Veszprém), and Forrás Community Office (Kecskemét).
The event aims to introduce newcomers to the professional office environment, community atmosphere, and inspirational aspects of coworking, with special activities like community lunches and office massages available at some locations.
👉 Read this.
🙃 What (even) matters in the future of real estate? #
Antony Slumbers returns with another long(ish) read on what 10 things matter when the future of the real estate is no longer about real estate.
It’s a great read that touches on machine assistance, flex, wellbeing, sustainability, storytelling, ecosystems and more.
👉 Read this.
🇩🇪 Spaces in north German join forces to promote coworking #
Cobot shares a snapshot from a big German newspaper covering the Coworking Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern where a number of (often competing) coworking spaces worked together to promote the benefits of flexible workspaces.
👉 Read this.
🛝 Dubai rolls out Work from Park initiative #
Omar Al Mheiri shared a Gulf News piece about Dubai’s “Work from Park” initiative that transforms public parks into vibrant spaces where entrepreneurs, freelancers, and remote workers can be productive while still enjoying the beauty of nature.
This initiative is part of Dubai Municipality’s plan to make parks versatile urban hubs that not only support today’s work styles but also boost economic productivity and bring communities together.
👉 Read this.
💡 Some quick and easy ideas for European Coworking Day #
Helga Moreno and the Spacebring team share 15 quick (and one not-so-quick) event ideas for coworking spaces to use for next week’s European Coworking Day.
Not participating yet? Join in and host an event (or few) on May 6th to celebrate coworking across the European continent.
👉 Read this.
Share This Week's Summary
💻 Coworking technology.
😖 The one sentence costing coworking millions… #
After hundreds of coworking ops calls, I just couldn’t hold it anymore!
In this quick LinkedIn post I highlight seven of the real ways that using Google Calendars to sync availability is hurting coworking businesses that are looking to systemize, sell, or scale.
Disagree strongly? Feel seen? Drop a comment and join the discussion on the post.
👉 Read this.
💳 Airline partners up to give cardholders to earn miles on meeting rooms. #
hubli announced a partnership with Lufthansa to power their Global Spaces platform. Not only will this allow the airline to offer meeting rooms, workspaces and hotel stays, but it will also allow Miles & More cardholders to earn miles & rewards while they meet and work.
A potentially huge new demand segment for participating spaces, whilst also making coworking more ‘rewardable’. Expect other business credit cards or miles programmes to follow suit or offer their own creative workplace rewards plays.
👉 Read this.
📲 New booking app launches into limited beta. #
Jennifer Schaepper-Uster shares that after a challenging few years, her dream to offer a state-of-the-art offering for employers and employees to book flex spaces has finally come true with the launch of flesk onto the app stores.
ICYMI: This platform rolled out of a reorg of Swiss network VillageOffice back in w51/21.
👉 Read this.
🦾 Did this co-founder just let their agents out of the bag? #
Nexudus co-founder Adrian Palacios shares a sneak peak at their new multi-modal (ie multi-channel) AI agent capabilities coming to their platform.
The cheeky 1-2 thrown in there? The agents work day 1 across Email, Chat and WhatsApp to support prospects, members, team members and provide general space support.
👉 Read this.
🙊 In 9 seconds, an AI agent deleted this entire database. #
The Independent reports on how Cursor (a popular coding agent) wiped out a firms entire production database, and all backups, in a number of seconds.
The firm’s founder noted that the agent figured that the best way to resolve a routine challenge was "by just deleting the database".
Now, and stick with me, this is the best case scenario when it comes to agents that can write to databases (either directly or through secondary data flows). Why? Because at least they knew something went wrong. What if the the agent decided to do something less obvious to fix issues over time? Like reformatting the data, updating arbitrary values, or renaming every customer at random – how long would it take teams to recognize and fix that issue?!
👉 Read this.
👀 Inside the PilotoMail x Yardi Kube integration #
Sofia Stolberg shares a quick interview with Michael Everts on the integration between PilotoMail and Yardi Kube and what it means for operators.
👉 Read this.
👓 Trend: changing interfaces and flex space bookings #
As you may know, I’ve been tracking changes at the intersection of where tech and processes (aka interfaces) enable more people to find, book and access flex spaces for some time now.
In this post I look at changes to different kinds of interfaces (namely AI + APIs, Remote Work apps, and.. eek… Web3) and how they could create opportunities for flex space operators.
👉 Read this.
🧑💻 Did WeWork actually have decent tech? #
In responses to jokes about WeWork finally becoming a tech company thanks to the Yardi investment, Phil Kirschner shares that their data capabilities was blowing socks off CRE industry leaders in 2017.
Being able to show off that in a click of a button the could show data open buildings, live transactions, construction projects, room usage, event attendance, member demographics, actual feedback and having VR/check-in and other IRL tech explains how WeWork were able to amasse so much talent in one company at one time.
(I’m excited to learn more stories like this about the good things, and the people, behind more coworking brands. Got a story? Share it with us.
👉 Read this.
📨 Digital mail platform lands 2 US patents #
Blanca M. Kanotz shares that SphereMail have secured 2 US patents. They cover "Smart Handwriting Recognition" and "Complete Virtual Mail System".
As virtual mail and office products grow both in consumer demand and in the percentage of coworking businesses’ revenue stack – we expect to see even more innovation in this area.
👉 Read this.
💻 Platform announces updated payment and access features #
OfficeRnD has announced two new integrations for flexible workspace operators: a Stripe Terminal integration enabling on-the-spot payments and card capture for invoices and recurring charges, and an automated SaltoKS integration that marks members without active memberships as "unsubscribed" to reduce manual work and costs.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Canadian meeting room platform launches in UK #
Howard Chang shared that Just Meeting Rooms are launching in the UK after seeing double-digit growth in bookings for meeting rooms available in 100+ North American cities.
👉 Read this.
📞 New booths can also be booked and paid for centrally #
Tyler Robarge shares that PrivacyPod have just shipped their first SmartPod. These pods book, pay and unlock themselves through existing workspace management systems.
It’s no surprise that we’re seeing more and more deeply integrated tap-to-use systems, allowing billing and members to be centrally managed inside systems like Nexudus, OfficeRnD, Cobot, and Andcards.
👉 Read this.
📼 How a fully integrated tech stack improves office experiences #
Caleb Parker shares why Bold (part of NewFlex) invested in a fully integrated tech stack across their hardware and software solutions in this testimonial video by NCG.
Yes, it is a nice testimonial for a tech implementor. But also… the positive affects of seamless experiences for as many members/guests as possible cannot be understated.
👉 Read this.
Coworking data.
🌎 North American coworking markets recovering, and scrambling. #
Upsuite is back with their latest quarterly insight into the flex industry.
A notable takeaway is that even though Canadian demand (per location) is only at half of pre-pandemic levels, it was up (121%) from Q4. Big winners in shopping activity were Calgary (205%) and Toronto (113%).
Over in the US, overall demand is up, there was a seasonal slowdown in markets like Atlanta (50%), Nashville (45%) and New York (39%). However second tier markets soared with demand up in markets like Seattle (113%), Austin (112%) and Tampa (66%).
They also share a rise in pricing, and a race to open new locations (with NYC showing a 5:1 new:closed ratio).
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Growth spurt of flex offerings in Central London #
Laura O ‘Sullivan shared rubberdesk London Flexible office Market Report for Q1 (behind an email-gate), by highlighting a few takeaways.
Namely that a majority of nex flex space centers in Central London opening in the past 2 years, pushing the vacant floor space in the region to around 3.18M sqft. North & South London have the lowest vacancy numbers for flex offices, but more centers are set to open shortly.
According to their data, Central London is the most expensive city to rent an office at £742 per person, per month, followed by East London at £572, West London at £450, North London at £395, and South London at £300.
👉 Read this.
🌍 UK & Ireland race past 4,500 coworking hubs #
The UK and Ireland are home to 4,550 coworking spaces as of Q1 2026 according to CoworkingCafe’s latest State of the Coworking Industry Report, based on proprietary data from April 2026.
The UK accounts for 4,270 coworking spaces, with England hosting the majority (3,729), followed by Scotland (311), Wales (131) and Northern Ireland (99). Greater London is the coworking epicenter (1,209), representing nearly 30% of the UK’s total supply. Beyond the capital, Manchester (123) leads as the UK’s strongest regional hub, followed by Glasgow (72). Birmingham (68), Bristol and Leeds (64 each), and Edinburgh (62) also rank among the top markets. Cardiff (43) and Belfast (45) anchor their respective nations.
The national median monthly membership stands at £180, but prices vary sharply by market, from £244 in Oxford to £139 in Liverpool and Aberdeen. Day passes have a median price of £25 nationally, rising to £30 in London, Oxford, and Belfast and £33 in Edinburgh, while Aberdeen (£18) is the most affordable major hub. VO subscriptions cost £115 per month, peaking in Liverpool (£175) and dropping to £35 in Bristol and Cardiff. Meeting rooms have a median price of £30 per hour nationwide, with London topping the list at £52, compared to £16 in Nottingham.
Ireland contributes 280 coworking spaces, with Dublin hosting 128, nearly half of the national total. National median pricing stands at €205/month for memberships, €25/day for day passes, €79/month for virtual offices and €40/hour for meeting rooms, with Dublin commanding higher rates across most services.
👉 Read this.
📊 Is the 9am space race a trap?! #
Most coworking spaces are fighting the same battle at the same time… chasing demand in the first few hours of the day says Jane Robathan at Nexudus.
The latest Flexspace Observatory data shows just how concentrated that competition has become, and why it’s starting to work against operators. The real opportunity isn’t in winning the 9 AM rush. It’s in building for the parts of the day, and the "other" types of demand that most spaces still ignore.
👉 Read this.
💰 Where are CIOs expecting to spend the extra $223B budget this year? #
Adam Blaskey shares an interesting infographic from Raconteur that looks at where Chief Information or Technology Officers in the UK are spending their additional IT budgets in 2022.
_Although not strictly from the coworking or flex workspace sectors, the post does highlight that we are seeing similar trends with regards to proptech and workspace tech, "which whilst in the early stages of adoption will drive the next phase of growth". _
👉 Read this.
🏙️ Business Districts with the Most Coworking Spaces #
Researchers at CoworkingCafe put together the top 20 U.S. cities with the highest number of coworking spaces in their central business districts (CBDs).
Key takeaways: Half of US coworking spaces in CBDs are concentrated in just five major cities: New York City, Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Philadelphia. NYC leads the pack with 180 flex spaces across Midtown and the Financial District. Oakland, CA; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia, PA and Chicago, IL have more than 2/3 of their coworking spaces concentrated in the CBDs. Houston, Austin, Dallas, TX and Denver, CO made the top 20 despite having more than 80% of their flex spaces outside the CBD.
👉 Read this.
🤔 Some other things that World Economic Forum’s report tells us #
Sharon O’Dea shares key takeaways from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report. As noted, a lot of the media coverage of the report focussed on how "technology will be a net negative on jobs growth" in the short-term, but there’s more to take away from what the 800 business leaders shared.
In short: the importance of reskilling/upskilling; combo of soft + tech skills more critical; diversity, equity and inclusion are ethical and smart strategies; a growing focus on climate change & sustainability and "the need for stakeholders from government, business, education, and civil society to collaborate and co-create solutions for the future of work".
👉 Read this.
🌏 APAC demand for flex up 13% over last five years #
Bobby Sodeiri shares some key stats from The Instant Group‘s 2024 Q1 APAC Market Review.
Since 2019 (yea, that was five years ago!) the following has happened: Demand up 13%. 35% of requests were from businesses with 26+ person teams, up from 18%. Supply has grown just 2%. In Hong Kong flex terms are 36% longer. In Singapore demand is spreading beyond the CDB. And New Zealand is going all in on flex, with local demand up 67%.
👉 Read this.
👇 Average price per desk in London are trending down. #
Henry Burn from Hubble shares a chart of the average price per desk (in GBP) paid by tenants, broken down by the size of the office.
In Q1 companies were paying £486 (2-5 pax office), £459 (6-15), £508 (16-30) per desk per month on average. It’s interesting that this isn’t listed prices, but the prices actually paid.
👉 Read this.
🇺🇸 US reaches 7,840 spaces, up 2% Q-o-Q #
CoworkingCafe’s latest quarterly report breaks down coworking space stock availability across the 50 largest US markets (up from 25 in previous editions).
Here’s how the coworking market performed in Q1 2025: National coworking inventory reaches 7,840 spaces, after a 2% quarter-over-quarter (Q-o-Q) increase. The U.S. coworking sector added nearly 4M sqft in Q1, pushing the total to over 140.7M sqfr nationwide (a 3% Q-o-Q increase). Southwest Florida Coast market saw a 10% increase, followed by Brooklyn with 8% growth.
San Antonio saw an 18% increase in coworking coverage, reaching roughly 850k sqft by the end of Q1. Chicago stands out among the largest markets with a 16% increase, surpassing 8M sqft of coworking space.
Coworking membership prices remain stable, with national median prices for dedicated desks and open workspaces holding steady at $300 and $149 p/month, respectively. Meanwhile, virtual office rates increased from $120 to $149/month in the span of a quarter — this jump signaling stronger demand for remote business infrastructure.
Size-wise, Regus remains in the lead, with 1,073 locations across the country after a 5% increase Q-o-Q, while HQ saw a 16% increase nationwide, reaching 281 coworking spaces. Spaces (161), Industrious (159) and WeWork (148) take the remaining slots in the top five operators nationwide.
👉 Read this.
🇺🇸 U.S. coworking grows 3% QoQ #
CoworkingCafe’s Q1 2026 report found the U.S. coworking market grew to 9,136 spaces nationwide, up 3.2% quarter-over-quarter, with Los Angeles (351), Dallas-Fort Worth (337), and Chicago (336) leading by location count.
The report also highlighted continued fragmentation beyond major brands like Regus, HQ, Industrious, Spaces, and WeWork, which together control just 23% of the national market.
National square footage stood at 163.94M sqft, up 2.9% compared to Q4 2025. For those tracking it, this still represents just 2.28% of the total US office space… with loads of space to grow into.
👉 Read this.
Coworking market moves.
😮 Mega merger creates largest private-owned coworking franchisor #
Michael White shares that Venture X and Office Evolution have merged (or as they call it, a ‘strategic alliance’ into CoWorks, a network of 130 locations (with around 100 more in various stages of development).
CoWorks is the newly formed coworking division of the United Franchise Group, and is allegedly the largest privately-owned franchisor worldwide. They have made big promises to add more brands and become the largest network in number of locations within 3 years.
👉 Read this.
💥 About that WeWork + Yardi emergence financing deal #
Key events: WeWork announced that they’d taken significant steps towards emerging from Chapter 11, including raising $450M in new financing. This followed reporting that they’d gone to Softbank and Yardi to raise the capital and fend off Adam Neumann’s takeover bid. When the details emerged about the secured funding, people lost their marbles that Yardi had swooped in to secure 60% stake of the global coworking brand.
This does makes some sense – as a strong WeWork is good for Yardi and their existing software collaborations, and we all kinda called it back in Week 10 of 2023 (yeap, 2023!).
The question I keep hearing is… "what does this mean for Yardi customers who compete directly/indirectly with WeWork?". I’d suggest another angle, in questioning if this lines Yardi (and their web properties like CoworkingCafe) to better compete with (or even buy out) Instant/Worka?"
(Personally still shocked that IWG didn’t dive in and bring the brand in as a new franchise play.)
👉 Read this.
🇪🇺 UK operator to invest €1.5M into two European buildings #
Jack Mason, Group CEO of Inc&Co (who run spaces under the incspaces. brand) shared that following a €1M investment for expansion in Barcelona, and a upcoming Dublin launch with "95% pre-let occupancy" the firm will invest further into these and other European buildings.
👉 Read this.
🇪🇸 Spanish real estate group launches corp office brand #
Spanish investment group Agartha Real Estate (ARE) has launched OneNext, a new brand focused on offering managed office solutions to larger corporations that blends coworking flexibility with traditional office privacy and structure. The brand currently operates in Málaga across three locations serving approximately 670 employees, with clients including Vodafone, and plans to open its first Madrid location in the first half of 2025.
This new venture expands ARE’s flexible workspace portfolio beyond its existing operations under Impact Hub (targeting freelancers and social enterprises) and premium coworking brand OneCoWork (focused on startups and creative industries), strengthening its position in the Iberian Peninsula where it manages approximately 25k sqm of workspace.
👉 Read this.
🌊 Workspace movin’ on up…to the North Shore #
Workspace owner, Justin Moran, recently signed a lease on a 12,700-square-foot space in Beverly, Massachusetts.
This will be Workspace’s 5th location (and first on the North Shore). Workspace Beverly, opening on September 1st, will provide an additional 40+ offices to their current offering of 150 across the four South Shore locations.
👉 Read this.
🇩🇪 Berlin campus offers free six-month program for startups #
Sebastian Brehm shared that Delta Campus in Berlin have launched the "Delta Campus Launchpad," a six-month residency program offering free coworking space for up to six team members at promising early-stage startups. Beyond workspace, the program provides access to mentorship, workshops, networking events, pitch opportunities, and integration into the broader Delta Ecosystem.
There’s always been an overlap between accelerators, incubators and coworking spaces, but whenever anyone offers free coworking space it can either be a short-term risk to coworking revenue – or an opportunity to welcome more well-connected startups later.
👉 Read this.
🖐 Local operator launches 5th location through acquisition #
On May 1st, Hygge Coworking acquired Advent Coworking, which will become their 5th location in it’s footprint.
The transaction adds 28,000 sqft (including 84 private offices, five meeting rooms, a yoga studio and an event space) and bumps Hygge up to approx. 900 members and 2 employees.
👉 Read this.
🔎 Woman-owned franchise explores expansion to Des Moines #
Alex West Steinman shares that The Coven are exploring an expansion to Des Moines, Iowa through the right community owner and location combination.
👉 Read this.
🇦🇺 ASX-listed flex provider opens 26th location #
Jessie Glew shares that WOTSO have launched their 26th location with a new site opening in Liverpool.
👉 Read this.
🇦🇺 Adelaide gets a second clubhouse from September #
Sam Draper shared that Hub Australia are expanding in Adelaide, launching their second location – Hub North Adelaide – launching in September 2025.
👉 Read this.
🚀 UK operator set to almost double their footprint in 12 months. #
Huckletree shares an (unfortunately paywalled) interview with their co-founder Gabriela Hersham about how they plan to add 100k sqft of flex space in the UK.
And that’s on top of the 150k sqft they currently operator across the UK and Ireland.
👉 Read this.
🇮🇹 Venture builder raised 30M to invest in, and host, startups #
Supernova Hub, which is a part of Italmondo group, shared that they’ve raised €30M to both invest in startups (€20M) and renovate their property in Milan which will also include a coworking hub for portfolio businesses.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Mancunian network opens first central floor #
Georgia-Kaye Berry shares that after a bunch of demand for a more central location, COLONY are opening their first floor at 19 Spring Gardens – featuring private offices for 4-10 desks, meeting rooms, and 16 dedicated desks.
👉 Read this.
🏨 Marriott acquires Dutch hospitality brand for flexible work segment #
Marriott International has announced the acquisition of CitizenM, the Dutch hospitality brand that combines hotel services with coworking environments, in a deal valued at €312M.
CitizenM, founded in 2008, currently operates 36 hotels across more than 20 global cities with three more under construction, featuring tech-enabled rooms and spacious communal areas designed as collaborative workspaces. The strategic acquisition gives Marriott entry into the growing lifestyle and flexible work segment, with CitizenM’s leadership continuing to own and operate their real estate portfolio under long-term franchise agreements while benefiting from Marriott’s global reach and distribution ecosystem.
Is this a direct response to Accor’s purchase of Wojo? Not exactly, but it is another significant move by a global brand that expands further into the growing hotel/workspace/work travel/remote sandbox.
👉 Read this.
⏲ Manchester gets hint of new pay-per-minute hub #
Rachael Mcvey shares that after 4 months of work, they’ll be introducing a new coworking concept in Manchester. Whilst the page is a coming soon placeholder, and the post mentions luxury offices, the metadata does hint towards a possible pay-per-minute model. Curious to see what oppidan offers.
Interestingly, the first pay-per-minute space I ever tried was actually an anti-cafe (that I believe have now closed) called Ziferblat in Manchester, UK.
👉 Read this.
🇧🇦 Huge space aims to be home of the Balkan startup scene #
After 2 years of development, Nermin Sehic shares that tershouse 2.0 is now open. The largest coworking space in Bosnia and Herzegovina aims to become the home of the Balkan startup scene.
👉 Read this.
🤺 Belgian network struggles with financial troubles #
MeetDistrict, a Belgian coworking brand owned by real estate developer Ghelamco, reported a €6.8M net loss in 2023, bringing cumulative losses to €22.4M despite a €19M capital injection from owner Paul Gheysens.
The company, which operates four high-tech workspace locations across Belgium, is experiencing internal governance challenges with tensions between siblings Simon and Michael Gheysens, culminating in Simon voting against the approval of the 2023 accounts due to disputes with technology partners.
MeetDistrict’s future remains uncertain as parent company Ghelamco manages over €1B in debt, and faces pressure to divest assets and stabilize its balance sheet.
👉 Read this.
🎓 Another uni + coworking partnership launches innovation lab #
Gabriela Hersham shares the launch of Huckletree Innovation Lab at Regent’s University to foster the next generation of ambitious entrepreneurs.
👉 Read this.
🇳🇱 Industrious lands in Amsterdam #
Johnathan Ramsamy shares that Industrious are opening a flagship location in Amsterdam.
👉 Read this.
🇻🇳 Flexi adds another Hive in Thu Duc City #
The Flexi Group partnered with Megafarm JSC to take over and rebrand the former MicroSpace site in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, as the Hive Rivermark.
Opening May 1, 2026, the 800 sqm workspace in Thu Duc City will accommodate 230+ members and become the Hive’s fourth location in Vietnam.
👉 Read this.
🚀 Further growth for in Columbus #
Matthew Davis shares that COhatch are opening 2 more locations in Columbus.
👉 Read this.
🇨🇦 Local operator expands in Calgary and Vancouver #
Pavilion Cowork is expanding beyond British Columbia for the first time, with parallel launches in downtown Calgary and another Vancouver location.
The former is a 14,906 sqft location, opening in Fall 2025. The latter is their third in the city of Vancouver.
👉 Read this.
🇨🇭 Westhive closes additional funding round #
Westhive announced the closure of a new growth-focused fundraising round.
The round is led by DRG Investment AG, the venture arm of an entrepreneurial family that is partnering with exceptional operators across sectors shaping the real economy. No amounts or valuations were shared, but the firm did share that annual revenues were "well above CHF 20 million" (~US$ 25.3M).
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Local work club opens second London location #
Drop-in launched their second local work club. The location, in Richmond, follows their original club in Capton.
👉 Read this.
🇵🇹 Sitio expands, and nichifies, with 14th location #
Coworking Europe shares that Sitio is opening its 14th location in Évora, marking its first site in Portugal’s Alentejo region.
The expansion reflects growing flexible workspace demand beyond Lisbon and Porto, while Miguel Ricardo says the operator is also building sector-focused hubs around AI, health, urban tech, Web3 and gaming.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 BusinessLodge expand to 3rd location #
Kate Holt shared that BusinessLodge is launching a new location in Widnes in May. This will be the brand’s 3rd UK location.
👉 Read this.
🇫🇷 Newton adds 5k sqm in Paris region #
Coworking Europe shares news that French operator Newton Offices have expanded into Paris, adding 5000 sqm in Clichy.
👉 Read this.
🇯🇵 Network opens second location in Japan #
CIC and Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co. announce the creation of a new CIC Innovation Campus in Fukuoka, Japan, scheduled to open in spring 2025. The 3.5k sqm space, tentatively being called CIC Fukuoka, will offer approx. 140 private offices and hot desk space for 40 – and be CIC’s tenth global location.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
On the TWIC Podcast, Hector Kolonas sat down with Wesley Edmonds, the director of Workplace at OFS, to unravel the intricacies and innovations of the contract furniture industry, and discuss their recent ROOM acquisition.
Bernie Mitchell sits down with Chris Marr, the straight-talking expert on navigating gut-churning client interactions, on the Coworking Values podcast for an unfiltered deep dive into exactly how to stay in control when tough conversations catch you off guard.
Matthew Lourey and Daan Van Rossum discuss how workplaces in Vietnam evolved in the last few years and how hybrid work, work from home and flexible workspaces will impact the future of work.
Sofia Stolberg and Stephanie Schrage share what they learned in the most recent Freedom from Sq Ft meetup where they explored 5 key elements of VO offerings, experience plays and self-service VO options.
Jamie Russo and Carl Sullivan chat about Your Desk‘s 11-year coworking journey since opening the first location with 26 desks outside Sydney, Australia.
In this episode of Brave Ideas Caleb Parker is joined by Alexandra Livesey Fractional MD at Mantle Space Ltd and CEO of Little Red Donkey, with Eyal Lasker, CEO of Flexspace AI, joining as co-host for a conversation around why occupancy can be one of the most misleading metrics in flex and why pricing quality and margin matter more than vanity utilisation targets.
Jamie Russo dives into some experiments around more work-club-y third spaces on the Everything Coworking podcast.
Most conversations about AI in coworking are either evangelical or dismissive, but Carlos Almansa Ballesteros, co-founder of Nexudus and author of the Coworkings AI newsletter, tells Bernie Mitchell why he isn’t interested in either.
Miro Miroslavov from OfficeRnD joins Jerry Alexander to discuss the crucial role software has in tackling the unique challenges of managing flex space on the Commercial Property Investor podcast.
Mike Kriel shares a hot take on why "it’s OK" for coworking (or flex) to not be a landlord’s first, or second, option.
Sarah Travers and Madison Powers introduce "Setting the Bar" a 12-part podcast series from Workbar
Caleb Parker sat down with flex office pioneer Charlie Green for insights into The Office Group‘s distinctive approach and creatively utilizing architecture and locations on the #WorkBold podcast.
Michael Feinstein joined Giovanni Palavicini and Jamie Russo on the Flex Uncensored podcast and shares how international travel influenced the design of Büro locations, the real estate structure of each location and what keeps their team lean.
Christine Wyckoff, Director of Enterprise Sales & Partnerships at Cushman & Wakefield, joins Liz Elam on the GCUC podcast.
In this episode of "2 Marketers and a Coworking Podcast", Kevin and Taylor dig into using AI in marketing without losing quality, creativity, or trust.
📆 Coworking events.
👋 Discuss this newsletter. #
May 6: Join other subscribers in discussing this week’s newsletter, and the trends the links represent.
👉 Read this.
👋 Continent-wide coworking member networking event #
10 May: TownSq are taking advantage of European Coworking Day to highlight the opportunities that can come from being part of a coworking community through a digital networking event that will connect our hubs and members with spaces across the continent. The event will take place at 8am UK time (9am CEST) on Wednesday 10 May and is open to anyone. TownSq will offer free coworking from our spaces for anyone who signs up and other hubs are encouraged to do the same.
I love this idea of creating an opportunity for businesses and individuals to make international connections, learn best practice and explore trade opportunities.
👉 Read this.
💓 Why coworking spaces are the beating heart of your local economy #
May 10: For European Coworking Day, we want to celebrate how coworking spaces add to the communities they are in, not just as a hub but economically, socially and culturally. We’ll be streaming this event live with the help of technologywithin and Lenta Space Spitalfields, and have invited three people with a deep and diverse understanding of what “local” and “coworking” means. Karen West-Whylie from Barking Enterprise Centre, Vibushan Thirukumar from Oru Space and Dale Thomson from The Granville, South Kilburn Trust. The event will be hosted by the awesome Caterina Maiolini.
👉 Read this.
👋 How to give great tours of your coworking space #
May 31 – Giving great tours of your space is essential to attracting perfect-fit members and boosting your conversion rate.
So how do you give a great tour? Let’s chat about it!
Coworking Convos are produced by TWIC-supporting brand Cat Johnson Co
👉 Read this.
👋 Convo: Turning visitors into coworking members #
How can you turn visitors to your coworking space into members?
Let’s chat about it.
Join us for a free and flexible community conversation with fellow workspace operators and coworking pros from around the world.
Our all-star guests will kick things off with their best tips, insights and strategies. Then we’ll open the conversation up for a Q&A.
Come learn, share and connect with other coworking leaders and rising stars of our industry.
👉 Read this.
🌍 European Coworking Day #
Over 190 locations are opening their spaces on 6 May 2026 to celebrate the power of community and connection found in coworking spaces. Many organize special events, ranging from community breakfast and pizza party to book reading and a veritable spring party in the night 🕺
Check out the variety of locations on the map and discover new places of work and belonging! ♥️
👉 Read this.
🤗 Convo: Creating a space of belonging #
May 27: How do you foster a culture of belonging in your space? Let’s chat about it.
👉 Read this.
🏙 GWA’s Immersive 2023: Changing models for changing times #
May 23-24: The GWA Board of Directors is excited to host the 2023 Immersive event in Houston, Texas about adapting to the hybrid world of work. Attendees will get a behind-the-scenes opportunity to experience and engage with key players offering best-in-class hospitality in the flex space industry.
👉 Read this.