The 12-foot-tall white letters spelling out “WHOOP” have adorned the top of One Kenmore Square for more than a year. But yesterday, the Boston company officially opened its doors to the public to celebrate its move into its new headquarters.
While speaking to a crowd gathered on the rooftop of the new headquarters Thursday afternoon, Whoop founder Will Ahmed said it was “surreal” to be there.
“We were told that we were going to spend the rest of our lives on Zoom. And I think many of us had a vision beyond that,” Ahmed said. “We believed that, sure enough, we would come back together. We’d overcome this virus and we’d work once again in person.”
Ahmed founded Whoop in 2012 while a student at Harvard University. Whoop makes a wearable that helps users track things like sleep, recovery and strain through a smartphone app. The device was traditionally worn in a wristband, but Whoop has expanded its product line to include sports bras, underwear and other garments with wearable integrations.
As a teenager, Ahmed said he wouldn’t have expected to live in Boston for the last 15 years. But, after coming to Harvard and leaving with a fledgling company, he said the city adopted him and Whoop. Even when the pandemic struck and remote work became popular, Ahmed pushed forward with his plans for a new Whoop headquarters in Boston.
Offices, labs and a scenic rooftop
The new headquarters spans eight floors and 121,000 square feet at One Kenmore Square. Two of the floors are still under construction, a spokesperson said, but Whoop moved into the other floors in late June.
On top of the building sits the highly visible letters spelling out the company's name, as well as a rooftop space with tables and seating for employees. The outdoor space gives employees an up-close, unimpeded view of the Citgo sign. The floors below contain amenities like a cafe, lactation rooms and private spaces for relaxation and meditation.
One Kenmore is also home to Whoop’s lab where participants test the company’s products while using equipment like treadmills, stationary bikes and weights. There is also an apparel and accessories studio where new gear is conceptualized and designed and a podcast studio.
From down below, pedestrians in Kenmore Square will be able to see the words “Always On” illuminated on the lab’s ceiling, a reference to the company's device, which is intended to be worn 24/7.
Whoop signed a lease for the new space at One Kenmore in 2021. At the time, it was the first major lease for Related Beal’s redevelopment of several buildings beneath the Citgo sign.
Whoop said it’s looking to expand its team at the new headquarters. The company has about 30 open roles across business intelligence and analytics, data science and research, hardware, marketing, membership services, product, software and talent.
This hiring comes after Whoop has pared down its team size over the last year. The company cut 4% of its corporate workforce in January, focused largely on the company's B2B business called Whoop Unite, and 15% of its team last July.
A spokesperson said Whoop now has about 500 employees.
City leaders tout innovation investments
Whoop started out at the Harvard Innovation Labs and then moved into a space at 1325 Boylston St. Since launching, the Boston company has raised more than $400 million in venture capital and became a “unicorn” valued at more than $1 billion in 2020.
Ahmed credited this success to those in the Boston community who supported the company, including universities, local hospitals and sports teams. He also thanked politicians like former mayor Marty Walsh, who’s now running the NHL Players’ Association, and Mayor Michelle Wu, who both attended the headquarters opening.
“When I got elected mayor in 2014, Boston was booming. There was a lot of great building going on, construction going on. But what we weren’t doing was we weren’t really catching innovation,” Walsh said.
The former mayor said his vision was to keep innovators in Boston, especially young people who went to Boston-area universities.
“That’s what Boston’s vision should be. It’s young people, innovative people that might go to school here and end up staying here in the city of Boston. Laying their roots here, keeping the brain power here,” Walsh said.
Wu said the city is committed to partnerships and investments to keep “many other companies” in Boston.
“It’s really thrilling to be able to celebrate the growth of a homegrown company and one that has gotten to the stage where, you looked around, you could be anywhere in the world right now,” Wu said. “You could choose to be in any city right now, and the fact that you looked around and said actually, this is where we want and need to be. We need you to be here right now as well.”
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