InfinitSpace founder Wybo Wijnbergen
(Picture: InfinitSpace)The former boss of WeWork in Europe has launched a new company hoping to make every office block flexible.
InfinitSpace is this week launching at Aldgate Tower, a building owned by Brookfield Properties. The startup partners with office owners to make it easy for people to rent space in their building on a flexible basis via an app.
“Unlike traditional shared office brands, InfinitSpace’s app will let anyone who enters one of their buildings rent space on an hourly basis regardless of whether they are tenants,” said founder Wybo Wijnbergen. “It can be rolled out across as many or as few buildings as landlords want.”
InfinitSpace will manage 60,000 square foot of space in Aldgate Tower on behalf of Brookfield under a new brand, Beyond.
“We provide white label flexible workplace brands for landlords,” Wijnbergen said. “We help them to conceptualise, create, and empower them to manage and operate their own brand but we will do them on their behalf.”
“I truly believe that every single office building will have a flex element and that flex element will be controlled by the owner.”
Wijnbergen previously worked at WeWork, overseeing the business in Northern Europe.
“I believe WeWork changed the office space and the way office space is used and the way that people experience office space today,” he said. “It’s been an industry that’s been very traditional that definitely needed to be changed in order for people to enjoy their time at the office.”
His new business can help landlords cope with changing demand from tenants as hybrid working grows in popularity post-pandemic, he argues.
“It’s not about 40, 50 hours in the office anymore, but when you come to the office it needs to be for a reason and for a purpose,” he said.
Buildings could also be used after dark, outside traditional office hours.
“There’s now a great opportunity for landlords everywhere to open up their buildings and be a hub, become a place where communities come together,” he said. “The local neighbourhood community that comes and uses the office space once a month for a committee meeting; using the board room to create a language course for local neighbours in the evenings; and, actually, really become that place where people from the neighbourhood actually come together, meet each other and have the opportunity to learn.”
InfinitSpace has raised $4.5 million of seed funding so far and Wijnbergen has ambitious expansion plans.
“We see ourselves managing 300 locations in the next five years,” he said. “300 locations would be roughly 6 million square feet. For London, we have a growth plan of 1.5 million square feet. For this year in 2022 it’s 5 locations and you probably will notice soon that we open a few more locations.”
Once a trailblazer valued at $47 billion, WeWork was forced to abandon plans for an IPO in 2019 after skepticism from investors. The company was forced to take a bailout from SoftBank, ousted its founder, and laid of thousands of employees around the world.
Wijnbergen said WeWork was a “fantastic company” that changed the office landscape. His new business is building on the foundations laid by his previous employer.
