How to lure more investors into coworking?

This 2021 Coworking Europe presentation examined how coworking operators could make their business cases more attractive to investors. StartDock Coworking used its own position in Amsterdam and Rotterdam—four locations, 925 members and €1.3 million in investment raised—as an introductory example. The deck contrasted prominent investment stories with the sector’s risks: it cited Mindspace’s $72 million raise at a $250 million valuation, then traced the sharp rise and decline of WeWork’s valuation. It argued that European investors had been more cautious than their US counterparts and compared WeWork with the established European operator IWG. The comparison showed that IWG had operated more locations, served more members and generated more revenue than WeWork while carrying a substantially lower valuation. The presentation then outlined factors shaping coworking investment cases, including scalability, flexibility in real-estate arrangements, predictable and diversified revenue, capital intensity and market growth. A chart showed the worldwide number of coworking spaces rising from 16,599 in 2018 to 23,548 in 2021, with further increases displayed through 2024. Overall, the deck framed investor interest as dependent on stronger operating fundamentals and clearer evidence of sustainable scale rather than valuation growth alone.

Key findings

• StartDock reported four locations, 925 members and €1.3 million in investment raised.
• The deck cited Mindspace raising $72 million at a $250 million valuation.
• The comparison listed IWG at $3.4 billion in 2018 revenue and $0.5 billion profit, versus WeWork at $1.8 billion revenue and a $1.9 billion loss.

Presented at Coworking Europe 2021