WeWork isn’t the only co-working company capable of raising a lot of money. Brooklyn-based Industrious landed $80 million in a Series C funding round, the company announced Tuesday.
Real estate-centric VC company Fifth Wall Ventures led the round along with Riverwood Capital, which also led the startup’s $37 million Series B round in 2016. Schechter Private Capital, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Rabina Properties, Outlook Development Group and Alrai Capital also invested in the Series C round.
With the latest investment, Industrious has raised $142 million to-date.
The company currently has 35 co-working locations open or about to open and plans to expand to between 50 and 60 locations by the end of the year, founder Jamie Hodari said.
While other co-working companies like WeWork and the Yard focused on expanding in New York first before branching out into other cities, Industrious took the opposite approach. Five years after its launch, it only has two New York locations, at 594 Dean Street in Brooklyn and at 215 Park Avenue South in Gramercy Park, but is active in 25 cities. The rationale: Corporate clients may be more likely to sign membership deals if they can access spaces in multiple cities. “You have to be everywhere your customers are,” Hodari said.
Industrious plans to use the Series C money to add new locations, increase its staff from 135 to around 210 and invest in data gathering. Not on the horizon: a WeWork-esque expansion into co-living, education or retail.
“Our raison d’etre is to deliver a great day of work,” Hodari said, explaining why the company plans to stay focused on co-working.
Last year Industrious acquired the online short-term office rental listing platform PivotDesk and later rebranded it under the name Central.
Hodari said he began talking to potential Series C investors in the late summer and had agreements in place by December.
Fifth Wall, founded by Brad Griewe and Brendan Wallace, raised $212 million for a real estate tech investment fund last year. More than half the money came from real estate companies like CBRE, Prologis, Hines, Lennar, Host Hotels & Resorts, Equity Residential and Macerich. Since then, the Los Angeles-based fund manager has invested in online home sales platform Opendoor, blockchain company Harbor and Airbnb rival AJJK, among other companies.