糖心视频

Flexible workspace operator has raised $60 million in what it describes as a led by in the latest deal in the popular space.

Back in August, I looked at how a new generation of alternative workplace startups were hoping to give coworking giant a run for its money.

New York-based Knotel, which designs, builds and runs custom HQs for companies, is one of those firms. This round brings its total venture raised to $160 million. Besides Norwest, existing investors and commercial real estate brokerage firm participated in the latest financing.

In April, Knotel raised in $70 million in a that was led by and and included participation from , , and .

Overall, equity funding in coworking surged to just over $7 billion in 2017 compared to $233 million in 2013; however, a significant chunk of that VC and PE money ($6.16 billion to be exact) was raised by WeWork and its subsidiary. So far in 2018, startups in the coworking sector have raised $3.11 billion in equity-only VC and PE funding. But we鈥檙e also seeing a different trend: about 83.5 percent of that $3.11 billion, or $2.58 billion to be exact, was raised by companies other than WeWork.1

We updated the key chart from August and this is what the funding landscape now looks like.

More Room To Grow

Knotel doesn鈥檛 just build custom headquarters for companies. It also manages the spaces with flexible terms. Back in August, Knotel operated over 1 million square feet across 60 locations in New York, London, San Francisco and Berlin. It now operates more than 1.7 million square feet across nearly 100 locations, according to a company release. The company also said (in that same release) that it鈥檚 on track to exceed $100 million in revenue run rate by the end of the year.

As of August, Knotel had more than doubled its headcount to 150 employees. During that same period, revenue had increased by 300 percent, the company told me back in August.

Knotel plans to use its latest capital infusion 鈥渢o deepen its coverage in current core and new markets among mid-market and enterprise businesses,鈥� it said in a release.

Norwest Managing Partner will take a seat on Knotel鈥檚 board as part of the latest financing.

鈥淎gile workspaces represent the next generation of corporate offices, and Knotel is the clear leader of this movement,鈥� Crowe said in a written statement. 鈥淭he Knotel team has the innovation and drive to transform the commercial real estate world towards this vision of flexibility, speed, and transparency.鈥�

Increased funding for flexible workspace operators should come as no surprise considering that the segment has been since 2010 and is expected to make up nearly one-third of the commercial real estate (CRE) market in 12 years鈥� time, according to a recent report by Jones Lang Lasalle Inc. We鈥檒l likely see more companies vying to give WeWork a run for its money.

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