Work It WeWork

WeWork Raises $6.85 Million and Moves West, Young Man

"The world is ready for a change"

WeWork, the cooperative workspace that cofounder Adam Neumann calls “the world’s first physical social network” just raised $6.85 million as they prepare to open yet another space in New York and their first in Los Angles.

The company, which rents office and desk space to startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses for as low as $275 a month is already up and running in California with their San Francisco office.

Mr. Neumann told Betabeat that this second round of capital was raised over a short period of time and explained that WeWork has had had various investment offers, but are picky about who they choose to work with.

“We try to choose only ‘we’ investors. Not just anyone we who offers us money— investors who have a ‘we’ mentality which means they care about the bigger picture… and think collaboration is the future of innovation,” said Mr. Neumann.
The new funds will be used to grow the company, develop new technology and “invest in some startups that are in our technology incubator,” he said, adding, “All the money is for growth. It’s for building community, building technology.”

Mr. Neumann didn’t want to reveal too much about what WeWork has in store, but offer a few clues.

“The beginning of it is a simple member management system [that will] help members manage their interaction within the WeWork space—but its going to become a lot more than that,” he explained. “It’s going to become a portal for entrepreneurs, startups, freelancers and small businesses.

As Betabeat reported earlier, WeWork Labs, the 50-person incubator/common workspace experiment, will move to 175 Varick St. where they will have 17,000 sq. ft. of office space. The dramatic size increase, will be a huge upgrade from their current 3,000 sq. ft. office and will allow them to grow to up to 250 members.

Mr. Neumann said the new L.A. location, at 7083 Hollywood Blvd. is backed by San Francisco’s IO Ventures and will be home to a movie technology incubator.

WeWork’s space in L.A. and at 175 Varick are both slated to open on Feb. 15, but Mr. Neumann said the opening of the new space in SoHo may not be ready until March 1.

The company, which began at 154 Grand St. in Feb. 2010, is nearly two years old.

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  • http://cynthiaschames.tumblr.com/ Cynthia Schames

    HUGE congrats to the entire @WeWork team!  Way to go guys. 

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