Even as WeWork goes bankrupt, co-working is poised to survive and thrive

What’s the future of co-working in the wake of WeWork’s bankruptcy? In Seattle, where we met with co-working operators and users, the office-sharing concept looks poised to survive and perhaps even thrive as employers cut their real estate footprints and cope with workforces that have settled into remote and hybrid models.

• In Seattle, at least two dozen spaces previously listed on GeekWire’s incubators/co-working spaces resource page are no longer in business, including The Riveter, Impact Hall, Atlas Networks, Galvanize, Hing Hay Coworks, Ballard Labs and Office Nomads.

• But new spaces are moving in to fill the post-pandemic void and other established companies — such as The Cloud Room in Capitol Hill (above) — have hung on and in some cases are even growing. Read more. 

Sustainable chicken sandwich startup Mt. Joy raised $1.5 million and opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Seattle. Co-founded by tech entrepreneur Robbie Cape and restaurateur Ethan Stowell, the new spot follows a food truck launch earlier this year. Read more.

“We're entering a completely different era of how intelligence works.” That’s the view from Sheila Gulati, managing director of Seattle venture capital firm Tola Capital, which just raised $230 million for its third fund to back more enterprise software startups. Gulati, a former Microsoft leader who helped launch Tola in 2010, says the AI boom will be similar to cloud transformation — but with more speed and velocity. Read more. 

Hot Links:

• Turkey-Shoot Clusterf***: That’s how some employees at Microsoft described the chaos ensuing from OpenAI’s decision to oust Sam Altman last month, according to a reporter who had a front row seat to the drama. (The New Yorker) 

• Pause, please: Starbucks is rolling out new features to let overwhelmed baristas pause mobile orders. The change comes after protests by unionized baristas, though the company says it’s unrelated. (Bloomberg)

• Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Meta “exploited harmful features to maximize profit” and “ignored repeated warnings from their employees and researchers,” responding to new information unsealed in a federal complaint accusing the social media giant of harming youth mental health. (ATG WA) 

• Housing market predictions: Homebuyers may have more options, improved affordability, and new AI-powered search tools in 2024. (Zillow Group)