Worksphere
Acquired2 known investors
Seattle startup whose software let employees reserve desks and coordinate hybrid office work; acquired by Envoy in 2022.
Also known as Worksphere Inc.
Investors · 2
Also in the syndicate · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Worksphere was a Seattle, Washington-based B2B SaaS company that built software for managing hybrid workplaces in which employees split time between the office and home. Its product allowed employees to reserve desks, see who else planned to be on site, and coordinate in-person meetings, giving employers visibility into office utilization so they could release unused space and reduce real estate costs.
The platform also supported scheduling time in the office and automating pandemic-era workplace operations such as capacity limits, wellness surveys and contact tracing. The company was a Y Combinator Winter 2021 batch participant and operated with a small team of roughly six to eight people, including its three co-founders.
Founding story
Worksphere was co-founded in September 2020 by CEO Aakhil Fardeen, CTO Mark Piper and Head of Growth Theresa Klaassen. The three had previously worked together at Lish, a Seattle tech-enabled corporate catering marketplace founded by Fardeen that they grew to roughly $12M. When the pandemic sent office workers home, Lish's business slowed, which prompted the team to create Worksphere to address the emerging hybrid-work problem. Fardeen had earlier held product leadership roles at Amazon, where he started the e-textbooks business, and at Zillow; Piper spent about a decade as a senior engineering leader at Amazon, including within Kindle.
Business model
Worksphere sold workplace management software to employers on a business-to-business SaaS basis, positioning the product as a way for companies to reduce office real estate spending by identifying and releasing unused space.
Traction
The company operated with a team of six to eight people and raised $2.5 million in total capital before being acquired roughly two years after founding.
Latest developments
Envoy announced the acquisition of Worksphere on September 15, 2022, with the transaction scheduled to close September 20, 2022. Envoy CEO Larry Gadea said the Worksphere team would help lead enterprise initiatives at Envoy; the Worksphere brand was retired following the close.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Worksphere competed in the hybrid workplace and desk-booking software market against Envoy, which ultimately acquired it; Envoy had also acquired the desk reservation and scheduling startup OfficeTogether in August 2022 and counted enterprise customers such as Slack, Pinterest, Hulu, Stripe and Mazda.
Technology
A software platform for desk reservation and office scheduling, with visibility into who would be in the office, coordination of in-person meetings, and automation of capacity limits, wellness surveys and contact tracing.
Go-to-market
Companies operating hybrid work arrangements that needed to manage desk booking, office attendance and in-person coordination for their employees.
Geography
Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States.
History
Founded in 2020 in Seattle, Worksphere went through Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch and raised $550,000 in pre-seed funding led by Ascend.vc in January 2021, reaching $2.5 million in total funding from Y Combinator, Village Global, Ascend.vc, Socii Capital, Green D Ventures, Portland Seed Fund, Remote First Capital, Avalanche VC and angel investors. In September 2022, after about two years of operation, the company was acquired by San Francisco-based competitor Envoy in a cash-and-stock transaction of undisclosed size, with all eight employees including the three co-founders joining Envoy and the Worksphere brand being discontinued after the deal's September 20, 2022 close.
Compiled by commissioned research from 5 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsSan Francisco-based Envoy acquired Worksphere in a cash-and-stock deal of undisclosed value; the acquisition was set to close September 20, 2022, all eight employees including the three co-founders joined Envoy, and the Worksphere brand was retired.
Worksphere raised $550,000 in pre-seed funding led by Ascend.vc.
$550K source ↗
Worksphere participated in and graduated from Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 5
primary sources listed
- The Worksphere | Staffing & Recruitment Services Onlinetheworksphere.com · web
5 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Worksphere do?
- Seattle startup whose software let employees reserve desks and coordinate hybrid office work; acquired by Envoy in 2022.
- Who are Worksphere's investors?
- Worksphere's investors include Ascend Venture Capital.