Workstyle Africa, a co-working space recently launched to join the growing list of co-working spaces in Nairobi, Kenya has raised undisclosed funding from Lateral Capital, which recently announced to have invested in Kenya’s blue-collar jobs marketplace Lynk.
Workstyle Africa is not the latest to join incumbents the iHub, Nailab, Nairobi Garage, Mint Hub, the Twig, Hive Lab, the Foundry, as recently Workable launched in the same building Workstyle Africa had planned its second space.
According to Lateral Capital, “Big questions remain around regulatory risk, asset financing costs and the “race to the bottom” pricing war that ensues in the desire to acquire customers. While we have passed on “ride-sharing” we are bullish on the disintermediation of ownership and recently completed an investment in Workstyle, a developer and operator of co-working spaces in Africa. More details in the portfolio section.”
Workstyle Africa provides working spaces for startups, entrepreneurs, SMEs, freelancers and consultants who can take either private offices, dedicated co-working desks, flexible co-working desks, daily passes and virtual offices depending on their needs.
“The global co-working market has expanded by 700% since 2011. Currently 5% of commercial property globally is flexible space including co-working & serviced private offices. One of the principal drivers of this growth is the “plug-and-play” nature of co-working spaces. The economic benefits are more significant in Africa where the spread between commercial rents and “real” demand is significant and landlords are unwilling to break up spaces. Estimates are that co-working can deliver a 50-75% savings for the average SME from traditional office space,” the fund added.
Workstyle Africa says its prices as low as Ksh 1000 per day for individuals, a desk for two starting from Ksh 25,000 and a private office for eight starting at Ksh 35,000. Some of the companies already working there are in the financial, technology and new media startups and creatives as well as independent consultants, freelancers, and international clients who are in Nairobi temporarily.
Workstyle Africa’s amenities include a common lounge for social or informal meetings, separate from its two boardrooms for executive meetings, a co-working space for freelancers and seminar rooms for events and workshops. The hub also has a rooftop section for nighttime events.