Since The Riveter opened its doors in March in Seattle, the female-focused co-working space has hosted Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, WNBA star Sue Bird, and two U.S. senators. It’s also grown to nearly 300 members at its Capitol Hill location and won Newcomer of the Year at this year’s GeekWire Awards. The Riveter is riding that momentum and opening a second Seattle facility less than six months since its launch.
“Our community has grown in ways we really hadn’t anticipated this quickly,” said Amy Nelson, who co-founded The Riveter with her friend Kim Peltola.
The Riveter’s new location is on N. Northlake Way in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, which is also home to Tableau and Google. The co-working space will officially open Sept. 11.
“We’re thrilled to be able to bring The Riveter to North Seattle out of the Central District and Fremont is such an exciting new tech corridor,” Nelson said. “We’ve seen a lot of demand of that area.”
The Riveter originally planned to open its second location in Bellevue, Wash., but Nelson said she and Peltola couldn’t pass up the perfect location they found in Fremont, especially given the demand they’ve seen for a North Seattle facility.
Earlier this year, The Riveter raised a $760,000 seed round. The original plan was to open two flagship locations — the original site in Seattle and one in Bellevue. With Fremont now slated to come before the Bellevue location, The Riveter is raising additional cash to continue its growth.
Previously: Co-working space for women The Riveter is launching in Seattle to build community and challenge ‘bro-working’
“We’re growing faster than we had thought we would, which is really exciting,” Nelson said. “What’s been really cool about the Capitol Hill space is to see the community come alive and using the space in different ways. We really believe that we’ve become the go-to meeting place for a lot of women-focused, and more general, important events that are happening in Seattle.”
Nelson says she’s encouraged by the creative ways co-working startups are collaborating at The Riveter’s flagship location. Take Armoire, for example. The clothing rental startup is operating an online business but access to hundreds of working women offers a brick-and-mortar “customer laboratory,” according to Nelson.
“Clients come in and see and touch the clothes, it’s helped them with their product-market fit,” she said.
Nelson and Peltola want The Riveter to be a co-working space that is inclusive for people of all genders. They were inspired to launch the business after touring what they called “bro-working” spaces.
“We kept running into spaces built by and for men — foosball, ping pong, and beer kegs,” Nelson said at the time of The Riveter’s launch. “As professional women in our 30’s, we weren’t finding any community, and certainly couldn’t find the programming we wanted to help with business skills or a place where we could focus on wellness.”
The Riveter is growing its team and planning its first expansion out of the Seattle area, in Los Angeles. The company also recently launched “second shift” memberships, opening up its space on nights and weekends for women who work full-time jobs and have side projects.
The Riveter has pre-sold over half of the offices at its new Fremont location. Memberships range from $125 to $1,500 per month, depending on the type. As part of a special promotion for the Fremont site, the company is offering $100 off the monthly fee for offices and $50 off dedicated desks for the first three months of membership. The team will welcome potential new members and the community to preview the space with happy hour and hard hat tour on August 23.
