WeWork opens to J’lem’s entrepreneurs

American collaborative workspace provider WeWork opened its doors at 20 King George Street in downtown Jerusalem on Monday. Outgoing mayor Nir Barkat and his successor Moshe Lion jointly cut the ribbon, marking Barkat’s final engagement after a decade at his 6th-floor office at Safra Square.

For WeWork, the capital’s branch follows the launch of eight shared offices in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beer Sheba and Herzliya. Together, they provide a desk, high-speed Internet, unlimited gourmet coffee and business support for 5,000 start-up entrepreneurs, innovators and freelancers, including 400 more at the renovated former Mashbir department store. Globally, WeWork’s 335 centers offer high-end co-working space to more than 300,000 workers in 83 cities across 24 countries.

“It is the festival of lights and everything that this building, and WeWork in general, aims to do is to bring light to the world,” said WeWork Israel’s general manager Benjy Singer.

“In this building there are both Jews, secular and ultra-Orthodox, and Arabs, and we can see here exactly what we are witnessing across this most special of cities,” Singer added.

Gift of Life Marrow, Start-Up Nation Central, Made in JLM and DataToCapital all had previously moved into their WeWork space.

“It makes me incredibly happy to see the city of Jerusalem developing at fast speed, in hi-tech, culture and other fields,” said Barkat. “For me, to cut the ribbon today and to see the formal opening of WeWork warms my heart.”

Barkat, a dot-com millionaire turned mayor who now intends to pursue a future in national politics, added that he was committed to advancing the prosperity of Jerusalem in his next position.

“I am excited to be here because I think WeWork and similar places are part of the future of Jerusalem,” said Lion. “This is how we will succeed to attract increased employment and more young people to the city.”