Five huge companies that started off at Coworking spaces

Five huge companies that started off at Coworking spaces

The coworking concept is picking up across different countries changing the narrative that has been associated with it for some time now that the concept best works for freelancers, independent professionals, and early stage startups

Companies are now moving in to coworking, probably to tap on the myriad advantages that come with joining one. From saving on the lease costs to the great networks found within coworking spaces, different businesses at any level can scaleup quickly and become successful.

Let us look at some of the successful startups who once chose coworking venue as their home base and are now prospering multimillion corporations which is quite inspiring. Here is also list of some local companies that started off at Nairobi Garage and are now well established entreprises:

Instagram: You probably use this platform for your company as a social media marketing tool or even as a personal platform to share your photos and videos. You probably also know who the company founders are and probably its acquisition by Facebook in 2012 for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock.

What you might not know is that the platform’s concept that has risen to reach over 1 billion users was born in Dogpatch Labs – a coworking space where Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger created a new concept of social media that has since gained popularity across the globe

Spotify: Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming platform that provides DRM-protected music and podcasts from record labels and media companies. As a freemium service, basic features are free with advertisements or automatic music videos, while additional features, such as improved streaming quality, are offered via paid subscriptions.

Launched by Spotify AB on 7 October 2008, Spotify provides access to over forty million tracks. The platform allows users browse by parameters such as artist, album, or genre, and can create, edit, and share playlists. As of February 2019, the platform had 207 million monthly active users, including 96 million paying subscribers.

Here is the interesting fact, the company also started off at RocketSpace, a coworking space in San Francisco

Indiegogo: Indiegogo is known for being the largest crowdfunding platform in the world thanks to which over $ 1.5 bn has been raised.

The company started off to fund independent film projects they have since evolved to a crowdfunding portal for young entrepreneurs who have brilliant ideas but no funds for their realization.

Indiegogo was born at Rocketspace coworking space in San Francisco. Setting up such a company in a coworking space was a smart move because crowdfunding and support is exactly what coworking members value.

Hootsuite: Hootsuite is a social media management platform, that was created by Ryan Holmes in 2008. The system’s user interface takes the form of a dashboard, and supports social network integrations for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube.

Based in Vancouver, Hootsuite today has close to 1,000 staff members in 13 locations, including Toronto, Bucharest and Mexico City. The company has more than 15 million users in over 175 countries and is valued at USD 1 billion

The company team once worked at Rocketspace Coworking in San Francisco

Uber: This transportation disruptor now has serious financial backing, but it all started from coworking spaces, first in New York, then in San Francisco at Rocketspace Coworking space. When Uber started its operation in Kenya, they also set up their first office at Nairobi Garage, Africa’s largest and coolest coworking space. The company relied on coworking to keep costs down while making the right connections. Clearly, it’s worked, as Uber is now worth in the billions.

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