Knotel is continuing its expansion in Manhattan, having signed nine new leases in the past few weeks.
The company offers custom spaces to firms with 50 or more employees and has tripled its worldwide footprint in the past year, growing from 30 locations to 100 locations and 600,000 square feet.
Knotel signed 28 deals in Midtown South just this year, covering 452,000 square feet. Their other massive deals include a 37,868 square foot lease in Chelsea; 30,334 square feet in the Financial District; and 12,425 square feet in the Flatiron District.
Since its launch in 2016, Knotel has raised $160 million in funding supported by A-list investors such as Newmark Knight Frank, Bloomberg Beta, and Norwest.
Knotel’s members include corporations such as Starbucks, Netflix, and The Body Shop. They have locations across the world including New York, San Francisco, London, Berlin, and more.
It is catching up with coworking giant WeWork, who recently increased its portfolio to 5.3 million square feet of space in Manhattan, surpassing JP Morgan’s 5.2 million.
CEO and cofounder Armol Sarva was the brains behind many other successful startups such as Virgin Mobile.
The current coworking craze is the campus concept. For example, Milstein Properties is funding a 1.1 million square foot science and tech multi-use space in partnership with Grand Central Tech.
“[Growing brands] crave flexibility and cost efficiency,” Sarva said. “They don’t want to be locked into long-term leases when they don’t know what their needs will be beyond the next two years or so.”
