A startup trying to solve the flex-space needs for entrepreneurs in services, food and e-commerce, has closed on the bulk of the money it needs to get started.
Blue Co. Warehousing, which launched earlier this year, has closed on $656,000 in new financing from 15 investors, according to a securities filing.
The cowarehousing company is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Jason Widen, who said the fund would close at $1 million in the next couple of weeks. From there the idea is to pilot the concept, “and then I’ll expand pretty rapidly, which obviously needs additional capital.”
Widen was one of the original founders of what became entrepreneurial-focused coworking space Raleigh Founded. The effort later expanded to other locations. Widen said plans for Blue Co. are similar, “but at a much grander scale,” and for services startups.
“This is meant to be a regional play from the start,” he said.
Right now, Blue Co. is a pair of 30,000-square-foot warehouses across the street from each other on Pylon Drive in Raleigh. The first one – already a third of the way leased, according to Widen – opens in July and targets service-based sectors such as plumbing and electrician businesses. The other is expected to open in September and will contain climate-control infrastructure, making it ideal for food and beverage, as well as e-commerce, Widen said.
Widen is ambitious about the opportunity ahead – and isn’t stopping with the two buildings, both located in west Raleigh just outside the Beltline.
The plan is to add another two Triangle spaces in the next 24 months – likely in Durham. Widen said he is exploring an “opportunity” in Wilmington. And he hopes to have a network of 100 of these spaces across the Southeast in the next decade. Once there’s a network, there can be membership opportunities that allow companies to leverage multiple spaces.
“There’s a shortage of flex space, especially in this community,” he said of the service industry and its need for both office and warehouse space.
Widen said plans for Blue Co. are similar, “but at a much grander scale,” and for services startups.
“This is meant to be a regional play from the start,” he said.
Demand for warehouse space remains strong in the Triangle despite cooling slightly in recent months. In the first quarter, warehouse vacancy edged up to 5.9 percent from 3.6 percent in the fourth quarter.
While Widen's founding partners at Raleigh Founded – entrepreneurs such as Brooks Bell, Jesse Lipson and Christopher Gergen – are backing the effort, it’s undoubtedly his project. Widen told TBJ he owns 95 percent of Blue Co.
TBJ first reported on the firm’s lease of its Raleigh buildings in April. The buildings are owned by Stout Ventures, which has an office on Glenwood Avenue.
