Knotel to buy 42Floors amid blockchain push

Deal for office listing site has yet to close

Amol Sarva and Jason Freedman (Credit: LinkedIn)
Amol Sarva and Jason Freedman (Credit: LinkedIn)

Knotel agreed to buy the office listing site 42Floors, moving the flexible office company a step closer to launching its own, blockchain-based listing platform.

The acquisition has yet to close, TechCrunch reported.

Knotel’s co-founder Amol Sarva told TechCrunch that the idea behind the deal is to get “access to data and technology on over 10 billion square feet of office space, driving further liquidity to Knotel’s marketplace while also accelerating its plans for a blockchain platform.”

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In late March, Sarva announced plans to build a crowdsourced office listing platform using blockchain technology, dubbed KnotelKoin. The idea is to let users share their own data about office spaces, use a ledger system to verify it and reward them with cryptocurrency tokens.

The firm’s core business is renting out furnished, managed office space to companies under flexible lease terms.  The company raised $70 million in a Series B funding round in April, valuing it at $500 million.

San Francisco-based 42Floors, founded in 2011 as part of an earlier wave of commercial real estate tech startups, raised $17.4 million from investors, according to Crunchbase. Its backers include Bessemer Venture Partners and Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital.[TechCrunch] —Konrad Putzier