Upflex, the coworking space aggregator that has an alliance with WeWork, tapped a commercial property veteran who has worked at a pair of global brokerages to help guide its next growth phase.
New York City-based Upflex said it hired Michael Casolo as chief revenue officer, a new position. In his role, Casolo is responsible for managing the startup technology firm's revenue planning, scaling and reporting. The company provides an online portal to let companies and brokerages both find and book flexible workspaces offered by multiple providers.
Casolo joined Upflex from Unispace, a workplace strategy, design and construction firm where he also served as chief revenue officer. He has more than three decades of experience leading successful sales teams at some of commercial real estate's largest companies.
Before working at Unispace, he served for more than three years as global president of client solutions at Cushman & Wakefield and nearly eight years as an international director of JLL's corporate solutions group. Casolo had a similar position at Staubach Co., which JLL acquired in 2008.
Upflex created the new chief revenue officer position after closing in May on its $30 million Series A, or seed, round of fundraising to help fuel growth in the United Kingdom and Europe. Global flexible workspace provider WeWork was the lead investor, and brokerages Newmark and Cushman & Wakefield also participated as investors.
In February, Upflex formed a partnership with WeWork to establish a combined global network of 6,000 bookable locations in cities ranging from WeWork’s home base in New York to Nairobi, Kenya. Through the partnership, both WeWork and its members have gained access to Upflex’s portfolio of third-party spaces provided by more than 700 flex-space operators across 80 countries.
“2022 has been a pivotal year for Upflex," co-founder and CEO Christophe Garnier said in a statement.
Garnier said Upflex's capital raise, combined with strong demand for flexible spaces, "puts us at the forefront of defining the future office. Michael has the deep experience and expertise to empower us to achieve this, and his role here will be invaluable.”
As it grows in the U.S. and Europe, Upflex has set a goal to expand its network to 30,000 bookable workspaces by 2025.
Casolo said in a statement that the opportunity to join Upflex "at this notable time in the startup’s trajectory was a no-brainer."