New York, NY – November 16, 2022 – Visible Hands, a pre-seed platform that holistically supports overlooked founders, announced today a partnership with WeWork (NYSE: WE), one of the leading global flexible space providers. As the exclusive workspace partner to Visible Hands’ Visionaries Accelerator, WeWork is providing space for the organization’s current cohort of New York City-based founders to help foster community and connection as they take their businesses to the next level.
Founded in 2020 in response to funding inequities among entrepreneurs, Visible Hands is a venture capital firm on a mission to holistically support overlooked founders in building high-growth startups. The firm’s Visionaries Accelerator, now in its second year, is a virtual-first, 14-week program for founders to feel seen and supported while working full-time on their technology startups.
As the exclusive workplace partner to Visible Hands’ 2022 Visionaries Accelerator, WeWork supports the New York City-based participants with workspace and access to WeWork’s global community, with the goal of fostering innovation through collaboration. At WeWork, the founders are able to utilize meeting rooms for group work, network at building events and more, bringing the benefits of in-person connection to the remote-first program.
“We are thrilled to partner with WeWork as our exclusive workspace partner,” said Justin Kang, Co-Founder and General Partner at Visible Hands. “While our program is remote-first, more than 30 percent of our 2022 Visionaries cohort hails from the NYC area. We are excited for them to have opportunities for in person connections and community-building as they build their companies.”
“There are just magical moments, inspiration, and ideas that come about spontaneously that you can’t always optimize for when working remotely,” said Megan Duong, Co-Founder and CEO at Plot. “Working at WeWork has been so beneficial for my co-founder Ethan and me to bounce off ideas and give us the push we need to hype each other up!”
“Visible Hand’s ability to provide NYC-based founders with complementary physical space to work from is a game changer for startups,” said Alyse Dunn, Founder, and CEO of CareCopilot. “Being in an office allows me to be my most productive without spending my company’s limited financial resources, and I also benefit from the collaboration that comes with being in the same space as other founders.”
As part of the partnership, Visible Hands will also host a discussion circle for WeWork’s Inclusion and Diversity Cohort. Now in its second year, the initiative aims to empower Black, AAPI, Latinx and Native American business leaders in Atlanta, Boston and Charlotte by unlocking access to the WeWork community.
“WeWork is proud to partner with Visible Hands and continue our commitment to championing opportunity for all,” said Joyce Ke, Territory Vice President at WeWork. “At WeWork, we aim to provide spaces where connections and new ideas can be made, and look forward to bringing the power of community to the 2022 Visionaries Accelerator.”
About WeWork:
WeWork (NYSE: WE) was founded in 2010 with the vision to create environments where people and companies come together and do their best work. Since then, we’ve become one of the leading global flexible space providers committed to delivering technology-driven turnkey solutions, flexible spaces, and community experiences. For more information about WeWork, please visit us at wework.com.
About Visible Hands:
Visible Hands is the most trusted platform for early-stage, overlooked founders looking to launch and scale high-growth startups. Visible Hands provides programming, financial investments, social capital, mentorship, and more to historically marginalized founders in the hopes of closing the racial and gender equity gaps in the VC and entrepreneurship ecosystems. Every year, Visible holistically supports and invests in hundreds of companies through its flagship accelerator and partnerships with leading corporations such as Amazon, Google, and Meta.
