WorkChew has acquired New York’s KettleSpace

With expansion plans in mind, flexible workspace company WorkChew just acquired the workspace assets of KettleSpace, a fellow workspace company based in New York City.

WorkChew, which launched in DC in 2019, connects remote employees to office and desk spaces in places like restaurants, outdoor areas and bars that aren’t being used during the day. Users can book spots for the day or longer and have access to Wifi, as well as what CEO Maisha Burt called a “third space” to get work done outside the home or regular office.

“We want to support you beyond just providing an office desk or something like that,” Burt told Technical.ly. “We want to provide you with options where you have workspaces that are geared where you live — and can help support you with another kind of third space to get work done and to be productive.”

WorkChew was primarily a DC company until early 2021, Burt said. She thought the KettleSpace acquisition was a good fit to help the company as it expands even more. With the deal, the company will have more than 100 locations in 20 cities and towns across the US, including KettleSpace’s former home in NYC. Members of KettleSpace will automatically become WorkChew members through the deal.

“In New York, living in smaller spaces, they really are keen on coworking, so we felt like that would be an excellent market,” Burt explained. “The fact that their business model was similar and they had a community of really engaged members who enjoy working from restaurant and hotel spaces [was also important]. We thought that it would be a perfect fit to really help us expand into New York and get access to a really engaged group of people who enjoy the kinds of spaces that we offer.”

News of the deal, whose terms were not disclosed, follows WorkChew’s raise of $2.5 million in an oversubscribed seed round during March 2021. Harlem Capital led the round with additional participation from Wilshire Lane Partners, Techstars Ventures and Relish Works.

For the rest of 2022, Burt intends to continue pursuing a growth strategy throughout the country for small, medium and large companies with distributed workforces. In DC, WorkChew plans to expand beyond downtown into Arlington, Alexandria and Ballston in Virginia. She said WorkChew will likely be launching in those markets by the end of May.

But on the whole, alongside coworking, she anticipates many companies looking for more flexible spaces for their workers. Even for those that are primarily remote, she foresees companies hosting meetups like monthly or quarterly collaborative sessions. She further predicts that WorkChew spaces will accommodate companies that can have a session in a space while also hosting team-building lunches or happy hours.

“You’re definitely going to see the work collaborative sessions, where companies try to find a way to feed culture, support their employees and have that togetherness and ways to maintain corporate cultures, in spaces like WorkChew,” Burt said.