Founders: Adam Neumann, Miguel McKelvey
Launched: 2010
Funding: $1.4 billion
Valuation: $10.2 billion
Disrupting: Office space
Rival: Commercial real estate
Source: WeWork
Adam Neumann, co-founder and CEO of WeWork
WeWork, the New York City-based company that provides shared workspaces for entrepreneurs, freelancers and small start-ups, is now bringing its communal vision of work to Asia. In March the company raised an additional $430 million of financing from Chinese investors to launch WeWork in China, South Korea and India in the coming year.
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Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey got the idea for WeWork back in 2010 when they were both working in a partially vacant office building in Brooklyn. Neumann was selling baby clothing, and McKelvey was an architect. They convinced the landlord to let them rent out the empty space as shared workspaces, and the idea for WeWork was hatched.
"As time passes and the more our community grows, the bigger impact this idea is having on the way people work and live."
Today the company says 45,000 people in 65 major U.S. cities, as well as a few in Europe and Israel, use WeWork's shared office space — ranging in price from $45 to $450 per month, depending on the amenities. WeWork rents its office space from landlords, transforms it into a communal space and then rents it out month-to-month to individuals and small businesses. Renters are typically younger workers who are attracted to the arcade games, cushy couches and free beer on tap at most locations.
Benchmark, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price are among the investors that have funneled $1.4 billion into the company, giving WeWork a valuation of around $10 billion.
