Knotel Raises $25 Million Series A Following a Year of Rapid Growth
Knotel's Network of Custom Locations for Modern Enterprises is Transforming Commercial Real Estate with Brand Customized Headquarters On-demand
Feb 22, 2017, 09:00 ET
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Knotel, the network of custom locations that provides modern businesses with adaptable headquarters, today announced the raise of a $25 million Series A round. In response to the overwhelming demand from company leaders asking for more locations and space, Knotel has already opened ten locations in New York and this investment round will be used to add 40 more locations in the next year.
Founded in 2015 by established entrepreneurs and investors Amol Sarva and Edward Shenderovich, the idea for Knotel sparked while running their own office and realizing companies are agile but their headquarters are not. By observing the time and money expended on leases at the CEO level, Amol and Edward noticed the opportunity to help these founders grow their enterprises without the headaches of traditional real estate, so they set out to do something about it.
As a transformational real estate technology company, Knotel currently provides over 50 enterprises, including VenueBook, Cheddar, CultureIQ, and Change.org amongst others, with custom headquarters in its various locations throughout New York City. Knotel caters to the flexibility that modern businesses demand, creating specifically tailored headquarters on-demand that are culture-coded to each company's unique profile. In addition to offering quick setup and move in support, Knotel eliminates the antiquated real estate practice of being locked into long-term leases, giving their community of visionary leaders freedom from tedious and costly overhead logistics that require large upfront deposits.
"Powerful innovation is changing nearly everything for leading-edge companies, except one thing-- where they work," said Knotel co-founder and CEO Amol Sarva. "With the world of work rapidly changing in every other sense, we are creating a better environment for serious business leaders that allows them to be agile, grow fast and save money. In just one year we have grown 10X, our demand has quickly outpaced supply. This fundraise will help Knotel expand to support the flood of companies that are looking for a more effective space to meet their business needs with deeply impactful community building tools with like-minded leaders, in contrast to the recent trend of sharing desks with strangers and drinking beer around a ping pong table."
"Fast-growing companies need an entirely new kind of workplace experience than plain offices provide. Knotel can offer that new workplace experience, for that new kind of company," said Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta. "There's a clear opportunity to build a grand-scale business on Knotel's platform."
Despite the recent necessity for today's businesses to have more fluidity with their real estate, only 0.1% of commercial office spaces are flexible and the multi-trillion dollar market is still dominated by long-term lease agreements. Knotel is creating an entirely new business model, Headquarters as a Service, that surfaces a massive opportunity to transform this stultifying category into a fast, scalable, modern marketplace.
About Knotel
Knotel runs a network of custom locations with adaptable environments that cater to modern business needs. Introducing its "HQ as a Service" model, Knotel delivers a new experience for business leaders looking for on-demand headquarters. Each managed location is designed to reflect each business' unique ethos. Knotel eliminates the risks of being locked into long-term contracts and is transforming traditional spaces by offering catered service terms, culture-coded environments, quick setup and move in support. Founded by hyper-aware founders who set out to build something they would want for themselves, Knotel rejects the old way of doing things. Current residents are comprised of many of today's most elite business leaders like the first investor in Spotify, the former president of BuzzFeed, the CEO of MTV, the ClassPass co-founder, the world's largest petition platform Change.org and many more. Knotel investors include Bloomberg Beta, Invest AG, Joseph Meyer of Observer Capital, Rocket Internet, 500 Startups among others. For more information, check out www.Knotel.com.
SOURCE Knotel