SAN FRANCISCO – Codi, the company that pairs flexible leasing with ongoing office management, today announced that it has received $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The deal was led by Andreessen Horowitz general partner Jeff Jordan, who also led the firm’s investments in and sits on the board of highly disruptive marketplaces like Airbnb, Instacart, and Pinterest. Jordan will also join Codi’s board.
Codi was founded by Christelle Rohaut and Dave Schuman to offer alternatives to traditional long-term leases and to reinvent commercial real estate for the way companies work today. They’ve designed an end-to-end workplace platform that enables companies to effectively “outsource” the office; changing the way companies lease and run their physical spaces as they grow and relocate.
Codi offers a robust marketplace that makes it simple for companies to quickly identify and occupy properties that match their space requirements with the most flexible terms on the market – but that is only the first step. Codi then facilitates the move-in process by streamlining design, furnishings, and IT; as well as ongoing office management with coffee, snacks, and cleaning.
The experience is turnkey for both landlords and Codi clients. Where the process of opening an office can take upwards of six months, Codi reduces it to about four weeks. For companies that require flexibility, Codi is able to reduce lease lengths from 36 months, on average, to just six months – with options for longer contracts if desired. Codi’s dedicated concierge team, included in their platform, can also save companies tens of thousands a year on office management costs. For real estate owners, Codi’s nimble platform drives recurring revenue from properties that might otherwise remain vacant while awaiting long-term tenants or building sales.
“The key to what we’ve built is flexibility,” explained Rohaut, who serves as Codi’s CEO. “This new age of remote work has changed the calculus for companies that still want a physical space for their teams to collaborate. The office should no longer be a liability, but a service – a service that companies can flex up or down based on their growth needs and culture.”
The Codi model is also an answer for companies that want their employees to work together in-person at times, but not necessarily every day. Codi offers twice-a-week private offices; an optimal model for startups that find the coworking experience impersonal, but do not want the long-term commitments and risks required by traditional real estate.
“I’m always looking for emerging marketplace companies that are disrupting the standard industry business model – and this is exactly what Codi’s doing for commercial office space in their quest to become an all-in-one private office management platform,” explained Jordan. “Today, thanks to their asset-light model, they can offer customers the perks of private office space, but with more flexible leasing terms, commuter-friendly locations, and white-glove customer service support.”
Codi was founded in 2018. At the time, the company’s primary goal was to connect growing businesses with underutilized spaces outside of city centers, thereby cutting commutes, reducing traffic, and improving work/life balance for employees. When the global pandemic initiated a new era of remote work and upended the commercial real estate industry, Codi leaders expanded their platform to offer a wider variety of spaces and services to meet these changing needs; still with an emphasis on unique locations that lie outside of city centers.
“Companies now more than ever demand workplace flexibility, yet most commercial leasing is still stuck in the previous century. We believe that setting up an office should be as easy as setting up the rest of your tech stack,” added Rohaut. “We’re changing commercial real estate the same way AWS did for data centers, Gusto for payrolls, and Stripe for online payments. We’re excited to build the workplace of the future with support from Jeff Jordan and the team at Andreessen Horowitz.”
About Codi
Codi is killing the traditional long-term lease and reinventing commercial real estate for the way companies work today. Codi spaces are private, turnkey offices that enable companies to thrive with the most flexible terms on the market. Whether companies need a space that grows with them or a place to use a few days a week, Codi makes the process painless. Within days, companies can move into a unique space in popular neighborhoods, designed to fit their team’s needs with customizable furniture, layouts, and amenities that employees love.
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