Former Software Exec Shooting For A Priddy Big Sun Belt Coworking Empire

A former software executive is scaling up a coworking operation with three new Atlanta locations and dozens more planned across the Sun Belt.

Kevin Priddy founded Priddy Spaces in 2022 and has opened 12 Venture X and Office Evolution franchise locations since, capitalizing on the growth in the industry, particularly in the suburbs of Sun Belt markets where the population has grown and office construction hasn’t kept pace.

Priddy Spaces opened its debut Metro Atlanta location in July with a Venture X at 1100 Circle 75 Parkway, next to The Battery Atlanta. He has deals for two more local branches: at Regions Plaza in Midtown, which is set to open in December, and at 5155 Peachtree Parkway in The Forum retail center in Peachtree Corners, which is slated to open early next year. 

Priddy, a franchisee of private equity-backed Vast Coworking, has a goal to open four locations a year and eventually reach 50 in operation. He said he is catering to a growing technology workforce that isn’t tied to a major downtown office.

“There is a lot of growth in this industry right now,” Priddy said. “There’s a huge boom in entrepreneurship, especially with AI. We have so many AI companies coming in and signing up for space.”

Coworking is also growing again following an era of pandemic-fueled consolidation. There were 8,973 locations in January, a 15% year-over-year jump, according to CoworkingCafe, a subsidiary of Yardi. The total footprint of U.S. coworking reached 160M SF, up 16% from January 2025.

Despite the presence of big corporate names like WeWork, IWG and Industrious, nearly 80% of the market is controlled by independent operators, according to CoworkingCafe. 

That segment of the market is growing especially fast. The number of coworking companies with 10 or fewer locations climbed from some 3,300 in 2024 to nearly 4,500. 

“I would even say that there’s more demand than there’s current supply,” said Wybo Wijnbergen, the CEO of the Amsterdam-based infinitSpace coworking platform, which entered the U.S. market last year with a location in Los Angeles. 

Wijnbergen, a former WeWork executive, founded infinitSpace in 2020 and plans to operate 30 locations in major U.S. cities over the next two years, including New York, Seattle, Austin and San Francisco. infinitSpace enters into management contracts with commercial real estate landlords to operate coworking spaces.

“There’s an incredible amount of potential,” he said. 

Priddy decided to tap into it after selling his last company, PlanHub — a software platform for commercial contractors to bid on jobs — to a private equity firm. He and his wife and business partner, Giedre, searched for another business opportunity. That was when the coworking industry caught his attention, Priddy said.

It was recovering from its contraction following the pandemic when large operators were shuttering locations. Between 2020 and 2022, more than 800 coworking locations in the U.S. closed their doors. Knotel and WeWork both went bankrupt and were purchased by Newmark and Yardi, respectively.

And while companies began a slow process of pulling employees back to the office, their need for large blocks of office space diminished as they pivoted to more numerous and flexible office locations. By 2023, coworking returned to growth mode as demand for flexible office arrangements grew.

“I see that in a lot of other enterprises,” Priddy said. “They have so much footprint they don’t need anymore.” 

Priddy said he limits the size of each location to 25K SF to 30K SF to reduce risk. He signs direct leases with landlords to create predictable costs and benefit from tenant improvement allowances as startup capital used to design the spaces. Venture X and Office Innovation mainly focus on private office suites for individuals and companies. 

While Priddy has a smattering of enterprise clients, like American Express and Goldman Sachs, his main focus for the Venture X brand is on small professional services companies, like wealth management firms and architects. Office Evolutions appeals to and is priced more for midmarket businesses, like staffing services and construction companies, Priddy said. 

He said demographics dictate where he selects his locations, which are focused on affluent urban and suburban markets in high-growth metro areas where workers are spread out but prefer an office closer to their homes.

“We’re really focused on Sun Belt states where there’s population influx,” he said, adding that the firm is especially focused on growing in Dallas, Florida and Metro Atlanta, areas where urban sprawl “is great for our business.”

“It can’t just be in any market. I’m not going to open a Montgomery, Alabama, location,” he said. 

Each location begins to turn a profit once 70% of the space is leased, Priddy said, which the firm aims to accomplish within a year of opening. While shooting for full-year lease commitments, Priddy said customers join locations anywhere from month-to-month to longer than a year. 

“If we keep our focus under 30K SF, we feel comfortable we’re not overexposed and risk a location,” he said. “We’re very mindful of the deal structures we’re doing. We build our model where our pricing, if we cover 70% of our offices, we break even.”