On Tuesday, WeWork announced its first U.S.-based ‘Growth Campus’ dedicated to building local startups in New York City.
Backed by $25 million in funding from WeWork, the campus will spread these funds across 500 offices in 11 New York WeWork locations, including Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The office spaces range in size from single-person capacities to rooms that can hold over 50 people. The goal is “to accommodate businesses at any stage of their growth,” Chris Ferzli, vice-president of global public affairs at WeWork, told Build In over email.
For entrepreneurs who are part of the Growth Campus and utilize the flexible office spaces, WeWork will provide them with exclusive access to mentorship, virtual acceleration opportunities and educational programming.
The development of the campus is in partnership with five NYC Chambers of Commerce and Tech:NYC, a nonprofit that advocates for technology companies to promote DEI and boosts opportunities for locals to have access to connectivity, tools and training in tech.
“As a New York-founded and headquartered company, we are committed to helping the city’s diverse and growing entrepreneurial and nonprofit communities thrive. We’re grateful to have the support of City Hall and are excited to again partner with the city’s Chambers of Commerce to help bolster economic activity across New York,” Ferzli said in a statement.
WeWork has similar Growth Campuses in Europe and Asia. The company said it plans to expand its Growth Campus initiative to multiple cities across the U.S. in the coming months. Ferzli said the focus will be on developing campuses in cities that are home to tech hubs and entrepreneurial communities, but where return to office plans are slow to roll out.
Entrepreneurs with startups that are less than five-years-old and have under 100 employees are eligible to apply to access WeWork’s Growth Campus. Additional application requirements include that the startup needs to be bootstrapped, be in pre-seed funding rounds or have a pre-revenue turnover of less than $2 million.
Positions to the Growth Campus are also open for social impact nonprofits that are registered as B-Corps or 501c3s.
“We’ve seen that early-stage startups and nonprofits were particularly impacted by the pandemic, and programs like Growth Campus NYC will play a critical role in supporting these communities moving forward,” Jason Myles Clark, executive director of Tech:NYC, said in a statement.
