INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
WeWork, the eight-year-old, 800-pound gorilla in the co-working space, hasn''t been known for being terribly acquisitive, despite the
billions of dollars it has raised and its valuation, which one of its biggest investors, SoftBank, apparently believes to be approaching $35
To wit, it made just one small acquisition in 2015 (Case), and one other in 2016 (Welkio).
The company is clearly beefing up its efforts to,
Last year, it acquired five companies, including Meetup, asite for organizing group trips and events for which WeWork paid a reported $200
It meanwhile acquired three companies earlier this year, including the Chinese coworking startup Naked Hub,for which it paid $400
million.
Now, WeWork is announcing its fourth acquisition of 2018 — and its third-biggest purchase to date — with Teem, a maker of
office management software for which a source says WeWork paid $100 million in cash.
The six-year-old, Salt Lake City, Utah-based outfit had
raised $21.5 million from investors, including Origin Ventures, Greycroft, and NGP Capital.
WeWork appears to have picked up the company for
several reasons, beginning with its ongoing quest to provide its growing base of corporate customers with bells and whistles like &insights&
to help make their spaces more productive.
The two also share numerous customers, including GE, whose CTO of digital workplace technology,
Jeff Monaco, went so far as to issue a statement about Teem acquisition, saying the company &suite of workplace software tools helps make
our day-to-day more seamless, so our employees can focus on innovating new projects, not trying to find a conference room.& (GE, , along
withGM, Samung, Salesforce, Bank of American and Bacardi are among a growing list of corporate giants to plunk their employees, or their
portfolio companies, in WeWork locations.)
The move also extends the general evolution of WeWork into more of a software company and not
simply a real estate play
Another aspect of its business, for example, is helping design, construct and manage services on behalf of enterprises that want some of
that WeWorkje ne sais quoibut that would rather lease their own offices.
Either way, we&re told that Teem will continue to operate as an
independent business line, serving its current customers from its Salt Lake City location while now also providing its services as part of
WeWork offerings, which, based on recent history, you can expect to expand even further, and fast.
