Serendipity Labs CEO John Arenas
WeWork is a real estate business that acts like a technology company. It's backed by powerful Silicon Valley venture capitalists, hires data scientists and DevOps engineers and sports a valuation that's about 20 times annual revenue.
John Arenas is taking a very different approach with his co-working business Serendipity Labs. Founded in 2011, a year after the launch of WeWork, Serendipity is sticking with investors who live, sleep and breathe real estate.
Serendipity, based in Rye, New York — 30 miles north of WeWork's Manhattan headquarters — has just raised $11.3 million from investors, including billionaire Craig Hall, one of the top real estate developers in Dallas. The company disclosed the financing in a filing on Monday.
Serendipity previously raised money from office furniture manufacturer Steelcase. In addition to the new financing from Hall, who also joined the board, Serendipity said on Monday that it's teaming up with the developer to open its first office in the Dallas area, a 29,000-square-foot space at KPMG Plaza at HALL Arts.