Flexible workspace provider Knotel recently announced it completed $400 million in financing, led by Wafra, an investment branch of the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Kuwait. The company plans to use the financing to expand its footprint in current markets, continue its expansion into the world’s 30 largest cities and deepen its engagement with global enterprise accounts.
“Knotel is building the future of the workplace, and we are excited to welcome a group of investors who believe passionately in our product, vision and ability to execute,” Knotel CEO and Co-Founder Amol Sarva said in a statement. “Wafra will help us continue our rapid global expansion and solidify our position as the leader in a fast-growing, trillion-dollar flexible office market.”
The company differs a bit from others in its space. Many co-working companies provide shared spaces for freelance workers and company satellite locations. Knotel however operates a platform geared towards enterprises. Knotel focuses on providing private and fully-furnished workspaces to large enterprises. The company’s tailor-made, flexible workspaces simplify the commercial real estate management experience and help companies reduce capital expenditures, enhance employee productivity and maintain operational flexibility.
Knotel will also use its new financing to speed up its recent innovations—Baya and Geometry—that are aimed at streamlining its core service delivery model. Baya is a blockchain platform that’s used internally to facilitate data-driven acquisition decisions and help Knotel further reduce transaction costs. Meanwhile, Geometry, a subscription service for for adaptable workplace products, will allow Knotel to more efficiently and intelligently design workspaces for flex-minded clients
Mori Trust (one of Japan’s leading real estate business operators), Itochu (one of Japan’s largest trading conglomerates) and Mercuria (a leading Japanese equity firm) all participated in the financing. Norwest Venture Partners, Newmark Knight Frank, Bloomberg Beta and Rocket Internet were among the previous Knotel investors who were involved with this latest round of financing.
Knotel has expanded to more than 4 million square feet across more than 200 locations in New York, San Francisco, London, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Paris, Berlin, Toronto, Boston, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro since it started operations in 2016. The company has raised $560 million in less than four years and is currently valued at more than $1 billion and boasts a slew of enterprise customers.
