Israeli co-working space company Urban Place has raised $12 Million from investors including Claude Bismuth, Bernard Kalfon, and the company's CEO Romain Levy. Bismuth is a former owner of the fashion brand Morgan and Kalfon, a former senior executive at Société Generale and a member of the investment fund Nexar, sold to the Swiss bank UBP.
The company will use the funds to expand operations in several locations in Israel, and to continue to create workspaces and other real estate solutions for entrepreneurs, high-tech and software companies, and more. Urban Place will also expand operations to Europe within a year, with the first branch scheduled to open at the beginning of 2018 in Paris, followed by branches in Berlin, Madrid and London.
Urban Place, which began activities 18 months ago, employs ten people, and currently operates only in Tel Aviv. Now that funds have been raised, the company will expand to Jerusalem, Haifa and Herzliya, and at the same time increase the number of its employees.
The field of co-work spaces may be most identified with the pioneering company WeWork, but it has been a long time since it stood alone. Today, over 40,000 square meters across Israel are defined as shared workspaces and offer an effective solution for Israeli entrepreneurs who are in early stages of product development.
Urban Place’s first branch, consisting of 900 square meters designated for use by startups, companies and private entrepreneurs, is located in the Psagot Building on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv. The second branch, located on the ground floor of Tel Aviv’s Ahad Ha'am Street, is a “pop-up” branch that offers fixed-price workstations for 50 NIS a day. The third branch, recently launched at Shalom Meir Tower, covers 3,000 square meters.
Urban Place CEO Roman Levy said, "The expansion of the company to international dimensions attests to the strength of the brand, and for me it is a sign that any personal or business vision is feasible. We are pleased to be among the leading Israeli companies in the field of shared workspaces at the global level."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 22, 2017
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