Former JLL Exec Joins Flex Office Marketplace Upflex
Vincent Lottefier, a veteran executive of JLL offices across Europe and Asia, will enter the role of chief strategy officer at Upflex, a global marketplace for coworking and flexible office space.
Because of his extensive experience in devising flexible office solutions for multinational companies, Lottefier’s appointment signals that the 3-year-old technology company is increasing its focus on enterprise customers that are making flexible space a permanent portion of their real estate footprints.
Lottefier spent over 15 years at JLL, including as CEO of JLL India, CEO of corporate solutions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and as JLL’s global president of integrated portfolio services, based in Paris. Most recently, he served as the founder and president of Co-Working Future and as an adviser to coworking giant IWG plc.
“I’ve been waiting for the explosion of coworking spaces and the modern, flexible office for many years,” Lottefier said in a statement. “I am absolutely convinced that large and small enterprises, spanning all sectors across the world, can leverage Upflex to drive productivity, reduce cost and be fit-ready for the future of work.”
Upflex acts as a clearinghouse for flexible office space, allowing companies of all sizes to book desks, conference rooms and private offices through the Upflex platform. As major coworking providers have seen a slowdown in demand through 2020, many have partnered with Upflex to fill their spaces. The result has been a tremendous year of growth for Upflex: The company closed a seed funding round of $4.1M in January and added over 2,500 locations to its coworking marketplace, which now totals 5,500 locations in 1,600 cities and 75 countries around the world.
“Over the past eight months, as Upflex has evolved into an enterprise SaaS model, it became very clear we needed a partner like Vincent,” Upflex co-founder and CEO Christophe Garnier said.
2020 also saw the rollout of major initiatives: Safe Spaces, an alliance of coworking providers led by Upflex and Colliers International that strives to keep employees and buildings healthy as businesses return; and Upflex’s first white-label solution, which offers employers their own branded app with access to Upflex’s global network of workspaces.
Despite a slowdown in growth in the coworking sector, a Colliers International report from November predicts the number of coworking and flexible workspace locations across the country will more than double within the next five years. And increasingly, the employees using those spaces may be from massive enterprise companies. Twitter, Square and Facebook, to name just three, have announced permanently remote-friendly workforces, which Garnier predicts is great news for the coworking industry and specifically for the Upflex platform, which can help large companies navigate the increasingly large and complex coworking landscape.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Vincent to Upflex as we focus on multiplying relationships with both brokerage firms and enterprise clients globally in 2021,” Garnier said.
This article was produced in collaboration between the Bisnow Branded Content Studio and Upflex. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.
