Workbox, the Chicago-based specialized flexible office operator, today announced the launch of Workbox Ventures, the brand’s new venture capital arm focused on the Future of Work. Workbox Ventures will be led by Phillip Leslie, who has joined the firm as Managing Partner.
The firm seeks to grow this fund at a time when businesses are faced with the reality that pre-pandemic processes, tools, and traditions are unlikely to return in their prior form. Businesses must learn to empower their teams, achieve strong financial performance, and provide the right physical resources to their teams within the framework of new expectations from employees, partners, and clients. Workbox Ventures seeks to invest around three broad areas:
- HR Technology: ventures that address make-or-break challenges in how companies empower distributed teams to build trust, share experiences, learn, and perform.
- Financial Technology: ventures that address the nuanced interplay between strategy and financial performance in teams whose goals are more ambitious than ever, requiring new approaches to collaboration given that physical proximity is far from guaranteed.
- Property Technology: ventures that turn flex work, coworking, and hybrid work into the competitive advantage that no one saw coming, enabling leading businesses to tap into new talent pools and equip teams with the physical resources they need, wherever they may be.
“Workbox has become the modern-day workplace for many high-performing companies. Our venture arm seeks to become a key capital partner for ventures having the greatest positive impact on this next generation of high-performing companies,” said Phillip Leslie, Managing Partner. “We’re excited to be part of the growth story of ventures that are leading the way into the Future of Work.”
Prior to Workbox Ventures, Phillip’s career spanned corporate, startup, and investing worlds, with time spent leading technology teams at Microsoft, growing and selling ventures in the HR Technology and Financial Technology spaces – including ProOnGo and InterviewStream – and investing in ventures as a Managing Director at TechNexus.
John Wallace, the CEO and Co-founder of Workbox added, “Phillip Leslie brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience both as an entrepreneur and as an investor. We are excited about all of the synergies that Phillip and Workbox Ventures adds to our entire organization, creating a value proposition that is unmatched in the current ecosystem.”
To learn more about Workbox Ventures, visit https://www.workboxcompany.com/workbox-ventures/
