To mark the seven-year anniversary, we look back at the history of Westhive and venture a look into the future.
Even though Westhive AG was only founded in 2017: The founders had already known each other for twenty years at that point. Andreas Widmer, Bruno Rambaldi and Claus Bornholt had worked together for many years as members of the management board of a leading marketing agency. And doing their own thing together had long been their goal.
From the idea to the first coworking space
Why a coworking space? On the one hand, the idea came about because the marketing agency in question rented out workspaces to start-ups. This often resulted in exciting collaborations. On the other hand, while trend scouting in Silicon Valley, the founders became convinced that coworking is a trend that will change the world of work in the long term.
As luck would have it, space became available in the office building right next door that was ideal for a coworking space. From then on, things happened in quick succession: founding the company, signing the lease, planning the interior fit-out and starting the construction work – all of this happened within a few months. And in April 2018, the first Westhive opened its doors at Hardturmstrasse 161 in Zurich.
It quickly became apparent that not only start-ups and digital nomads, but also established companies were attracted to the new coworking space. Innovation teams in particular (e.g. from Valora, AMAG and Migros) were among the first tenants. They were soon joined by national and international companies that wanted to offer their employees from the greater Zurich area an attractive workplace with a short commute. As a result, Westhive Zurich Hardturm was soon fully booked.
Expansion to Basel, Zug and Geneva
It was clear to the founders from the outset that they did not want to stick to a single location. It is no coincidence that the large workshop space on Hardturmstrasse is called «Think Big». This was followed by the Zurich Seestrasse (2019), Zurich Bleicherweg (2020), Basel Rosental (2020), Zurich Stettbach (2021), Zug Tech Cluster (2022) and Geneva Pont-Rouge (2023) locations. In addition, the Zurich Hardturm site was gradually expanded from 170 to around 600 jobs.
From the outset, Westhive was not what people in Switzerland imagined a coworking space to be at the time: not an improvised workspace in a converted industrial building with a «shabby chic» look, but a professional, functional and aesthetic working environment. Westhive clearly set itself apart from international providers such as WeWork by focusing on «Swiss quality» throughout. «We wanted to create a working environment in which we ourselves would enjoy working and welcoming our clients», says Bruno Rambaldi, summarizing the founders’ aspirations.
This also includes gastronomy, which has been part of the concept from the very beginning. Today, four of the seven locations have their own restaurant, the Westhive Kitchen, which offers a changing daily menu from its own kitchen as well as various other dishes.
Extending the offer as an event location
The idea of establishing Westhive as an event location is new. Right from the start, Westhive Zurich Hardturm was able to host events for up to 80 people. At that time, the focus was still on networking events for coworkers and pitch nights for start-ups. With the expansion of the «Backstage» event area in 2022, the offer was massively expanded and professionalized. The Geneva location also has spacious rooms for events with state-of-the-art technology.
If you take everything together, the term «coworking space» no longer fits what Westhive offers. Bruno Rambaldi agrees: «Today, we are actually a B2B service provider with three main pillars: serviced offices, conferencing & meeting facilities and business catering.»
What’s next?
With its comprehensive range of services, Westhive was recently awarded the SEF.Growth High Potential Label by the Swiss Economic Forum, which is awarded to companies with high innovative strength, an outstanding business model and great growth potential. This award lays the foundation for the next stage of growth: in the coming years, further Westhive locations are planned in Zurich, Zug and Geneva as well as other major Swiss cities – perhaps even abroad. Stay tuned!
