Coworks

Market position

Coworks describes itself as a leading coworking software platform and has been characterized in trade press as a platform powering coworking space operations. Company staff have noted that the coworking management software market has no single recognized leader and that Coworks aimed to grow into that position, competing against established tools including Nexudus and Cobot. Its founder and CMO are regularly quoted in coworking and regional technology press on flexible workspace trends, including commentary on WeWork's effect on perceptions of the industry.

Coworks positions its product as purpose-built for coworking operations rather than a repurposed corporate system, emphasizing intuitive, mobile-first tools without what it characterizes as feature bloat. The team states it worked out of coworking spaces itself and designed around what operators and managers need day to day. Company staff have argued that incumbent coworking management tools such as Nexudus and Cobot are clunky and outdated and not designed for the flexibility of coworking, and have highlighted the quality of the operating data the platform generates — for example, a Raleigh customer used analytics to identify an under-used conference room and convert it into two rentable suites. Human support and a white-label, configurable member app are also presented as differentiators.

Technology

Coworks offers a web-based manager dashboard plus native member apps distributed through the Apple App Store and Google Play, with members onboarded by invitation email from their community manager. Capabilities include real-time room and equipment booking, a searchable member and team directory with privacy controls and interest/job tags, an events feed with RSVPs and guest invitations, resource libraries, self-service billing and invoicing, occupancy management for dedicated suites and desks, lead capture and CRM, and reporting and data export. Integrations include Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook calendar sync, Stripe payments, Xero accounting, and Kisi access control, along with conference room and front desk tablet deployments and white-label branding options.

Go-to-market

Coworks markets through product demos and demo requests on its website, an extensive content operation (blog posts, guides, operator spotlights, best-practice articles and industry commentary), industry events such as the Global Workspace Association Conference, and an annual Coworking Community Manager of the Year award. It supports integrations with third-party tools, including Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook for bookings and events, Xero for accounting, Stripe for payments, and Kisi for access control, and has announced a partnership with Sentry Interactive for NFC mobile credentialing. Customer testimonials from operators of independent coworking spaces, innovation labs and makerspaces are used prominently on the site.

Owners, operators, managers and community directors of shared and flexible workspaces: traditional hot-desk coworking spaces, commercial real estate operators, makerspaces, entrepreneurship centers and university entrepreneur programs, coworking-plus-childcare and women-only spaces, cowarehousing, social clubs, shared lab spaces, innovation labs and hybrid offices. Named users include LocalOffice, MASS Collective, ProducKIDvity, Kricker Innovation Lab, Delmar DivINe, Raleigh's Loading Dock and the NC State Garage (now branded Raleigh Founded Community).

Geography

Coworks is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, and has emphasized serving coworking spaces and the startup community in the Triangle region. Early on it also reported customers in Nebraska and Canada. The platform supports operators running multiple campuses, and the member app lets users book resources, attend events and share services across different locations.

History

The company originated in Raleigh, North Carolina, with ties to NC State University; founder DeShawn Brown and operations manager Kyle Linton both graduated from NC State in 2014, and the product was profiled as having been born out of NC State. Coworks was selected in October 2018 from more than 200 applicants for the Google for Entrepreneurs Black Founders Exchange at American Underground in Durham. By January 2019, roughly six months after launch and without outside investment, it had ten coworking customers, more than 1,400 end users, and had processed over $1 million in customer billing transactions. It was named to the 2019 Techstars Atlanta class run with Cox Enterprises, and in 2021 was chosen as an Innovate Durham partner. Financing followed: press reported a raise of nearly $750,000 in March 2021, a round led by VentureSouth with Madison River Ventures and Fulcrum Financial Partners announced in May 2021, an SEC filing for a $500,000 round with more than $350,000 collected, and a seed round led by Triangle Tweener Fund reported in July 2023. Madison River Ventures partner Phil Vanderwoude joined as COO in 2021. Subsequent milestones include a partnership with Sentry Interactive in December 2024, an annual Coworking Community Manager of the Year award presented at the Global Workspace Association Conference, and the launch of a Visitor Check-In product.