Bostinno
Coworking company Workbar plans to increase Greater Boston 'footprint'
By: Lucia Maffei
General Manager Bobby Murphy and Workbar CEO Sarah Travers check the safety features at the new Workbar coworking space in Needham. The company plans to shift its internal layout, which is historically 80 percent open and 20 percent closed, to be more a 50/50 split so people can feel safe coming in post-pandemic, and will add custom cleanliness stations.
Gary Higgins / Boston Business Journal
Coworking company Workbar has raised additional funding even as demand for shared workspaces took a hit due to the pandemic.
The Boston-based company, which implemented Covid-related measures such as sanitizing UV lights and Clorox wipes at its first Needham location last year, raised $1.5 million in a new equity offering with a target amount of approximately $1.6 million.
After WeWork and CIC, Workbar is one of the largest coworking space providers in Massachusetts, with 140,000 combined square feet across 10 locations, according to Business Journal research.
A company spokesperson declined to share the names of the latest round's investors, who hail from the real estate sector. A total of six investors participated in the fundraise, according to a public document filed on Tuesday.
Workbar has 25 full-time employees and a total of around $9 million in funding to date.
The company raised capital "on the premise that Workbar is the future of work," as "our incoming investor group holds as much conviction as we do that our model is perfectly positioned" for the post-pandemic world, according to Workbar CEO Sarah Travers.
Coworking companies were among the many businesses forced to adapt their community-based business model to coronavirus-driven social distancing standards.
"Our plan, over the next few years, is to continue to form strategic partnerships with asset owners to grow our regional footprint in Greater Boston," Travers said in a statement.
Last year, Travers said that the company was investing in changes such as planning additional private space and adding custom-made cleaning stations. In its Needham location, Workbar shifted its layout to a 50-50 split between open and private space. In its Burlington facility, Workbar is focused on an integrated model based on coworking space, private offices, enterprise suites and turnkey managed space for a single tenant.
"Our Workplace Mobility Program was rolled out to provide a solution that can be easily implemented and consistently iterated," Travers wrote in the rest of her statement about the fundraise. "The functionality of the program is supported by our hub and spoke model, the physical layout of our spaces and our technology platform, which provides employees with a frictionless solution that extends beyond the four walls of any traditional space."
