Coworking giant WeWork edged closer into the tech world recently when it acquired Teem, a Salt Lake City software startup specializing in office management, for a reported $100M. Teem will work alongside WeWork's new division Powered by We.
Beefing up Power by We, which is WeWork's office and property management arm, with an existing player in the field essentially beefs up the company's office-as-a-service offering.
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As a software platform, Teem already has more than 2,800 customers, including major entities such as Airbnb, Dropbox and GE. Its platform has also been integrated into various office products, including Office 365, Google and Slack.
“Acquiring Teem means bringing in a talented group of over 100 people to help us create a better, more efficient workplace experience for enterprises around the globe,” WeWork Chief Product Officer Shiva Rajaraman said in a statement.
As a growing tech hub, Salt Lake City will offer WeWork proximity to future customers, as well as to tech hubs that Bay Area companies are interested in expanding to, including Austin, Denver and Phoenix, VentureBeat reports.
As a data-driven tech company, WeWork would be more able to sell products and services beyond office space. Turning to tech in this way is a WeWork strategy to mitigate the risk that comes with merely dealing in real estate, since that industry is always prone to downturns, Wired reports. Also, Powered by We presumably counts as another revenue stream for WeWork, as it looks to justify its valuation. That could be as high as $40B, especially with the support of major Japanese investor SoftBank.
Powered by We helps clients find space and offers software to manage building operations. It also provides data on the efficiency of the space and arranges custom office decor, TechCrunch reports. Not only does WeWork want to provide space to its clients, if possible, it wants to sell other services to them while they are there.
Recently Powered by We signed its largest client so far in Swiss financial services giant UBS. The company hired WeWork to help renovate the 100K SF U.S. headquarters of UBS Wealth Management in Weehawken, New Jersey.
