Upflex

In a world where remote, flexible work is the norm, you can successfully argue that while spaces to work out of are a need, offices are not. Upflex’s goal is to help employers expand their global presence while reducing their real estate spend. An employer can use the company’s curated, high-quality network to quickly assign a workspace for an employee, no matter where they are.

Employers can choose from two types of solutions—On Demand and Hub & Spoke. The On Demand model allows employers to book workspaces as and when needed, while longer-term satellite offices can be set up through the Hub & Spoke model. Larger companies can also take advantage of a white label solution and roll out a workspace booking app with their branding on it.

When we first met the Upflex team, they brought with them a partially-complete MVP whose loose ends had to be tied up with utmost urgency. After the MVP gained adequate traction, we worked to refine the Upflex platform over several iterations, and even helped the company pivot (more on that later). All throughout, we kept a watchful eye on the overarching feature roadmap because we sincerely believe that software should complement a company’s actual business model. After all, that is what makes good software great.

Given Upflex’s business goals, we built features which gave operators on Upflex the ability to manage their bookings and get paid on time from tenants. On the other hand, employers who want to provide offices to a distributed workforce can now use the Upflex platform to manage all bookings, and see how often employees use their allocated spaces compared to what has been paid for.

To make life easier for the thousands of remote workers who check in and check out of co-working spaces everyday, we built a mobile app that acts as a check in pass that can be used to check in to multiple spaces. Also included in the app is an e-wallet that allows users to keep track of how much they’ve spent on an Upflex space in a given time period.

When COVID-19 hit, we worked with Upflex to rapidly develop a whole new product to provide customers peace of mind. Named SafeSpaces™, this new product allowed workers to book workspaces that were fully compliant with health and safety guidelines laid down by the CDC and WHO. SafeSpaces allowed anyone, be they remote workers, daily commuters, or business travelers, to find and book a safe workspace through Upflex that satisfies their needs and budgets.

The good thing about a project like Upflex where success is largely dependent on the platform itself is that the company’s growth becomes a yardstick of our performance. Upflex first began working with us in 2017, and since then has grown into a platform that lists more than 6,000 workspaces in more than 80 countries (at the time of writing). Among its workspace partners are names such as UCommune, OYO Workspaces, Tribes, and UrbanHQ. The company has partnered with Anarock to expand its operations in India, and counts names such as American Express, Schneider Electric, Omnicell, Ziprecruiter as customers, and Newmark and Colliers International as partners.

More recently, a collective of strategic investors led by WeWork, invested USD 30M in Upflex’s Series A funding round.

Now if that isn’t growth, we don’t know what is!