Press release

Zipwhip Relocates Seattle Headquarters to 75,000 Square Foot Office Space in Lower Queen Anne

0
Sponsored by Businesswire

Zipwhip, the leading provider of Texting for Business™, today announced that the company has moved its Seattle headquarters to a brand new office space in Elliott Bay Office Park. Zipwhip signed a 10-year lease agreement to occupy over 75,000 square feet covering the top floor and a half, allowing the company space to nearly double its current headcount to 500 employees and expand the company’s presence in Seattle. The Elliott Bay Office Park is located north of downtown, straddling the up-and-coming technology hubs of Lower Queen Anne and Interbay.

Zipwhip partnered with interior designer Christine Chaney and architect Marvin Yamaguchi to design the space. Chaney, Yamaguchi and an employee-led committee developed the office plan over the course of 2019 and worked to create a space with a new vibrant energy, while also ensuring Zipwhip had ample room for future expansion.

Zipwhip’s corporate values – especially “innovation” and “enthusiasm” – are represented throughout the office in fun and interesting ways. Employees can text in their morning coffee order to the Textpresso v4 and have their coffee made and delivered onto the kitchen counter by a robotic coffee arm. Employees and visitors can also text 855-ZIP-FACT (855-947-3228) to learn the history behind its 71 meeting spaces, which are all named after different innovators like Bill Gates and Marshal McLuhan and landmarks significant to employees and this region. Zipwhip further personalized the office by creating 11 one-on-one rooms around the office, each one featuring a photograph taken by an employee blown up as the room’s wallpaper. With rich colors and open concept, the office fosters collaboration and a creative culture, with expansive views of the water and Olympic Mountains.

Sustainability played a central role in the design process – Zipwhip chose local vendors based in part on their commitment to environmentally friendly methods and materials. Zipwhip partnered with Commercial Office Interiors to furnish the space and ensured that nearly all of the fabrics, furniture and materials were sustainably made and are polyester free. Even the custom conference table in the McLuhan Board Room, designed by Urban Hardwoods, was made from local salvaged trees from Lake City.

Zipwhip also took a health-conscious approach to the office, ensuring that employees’ mental and physical health was made a priority. Zipwhip partnered with ZUM fitness to provide on-site yoga and meditation classes every week, and subsidized gym memberships to other local facilities. The office features bookable treadmill desks; subsidized healthy snacks, breakfast and lunch options; free fruit and avocados; and kombucha on tap. When employees need a break, they can book a Recharge Room or walk a few hundred feet to the Puget Sound waterfront.

When choosing a location, Zipwhip leadership knew they wanted to keep the company close to its Seattle roots.

“Our first real office was in lower Queen Anne and three office moves later, we’re back in this neighborhood where it all started,” said John Lauer, Zipwhip CEO. “It wasn’t easy to find an office space that could accommodate our size and future growth, but we knew we needed to stick around Seattle. There’s no better city to be a startup right now – the tech community here is so supportive of companies like us and you really don’t find that everywhere.”

This year has been a significant year of growth for Zipwhip, as the company closed a Series D investment round of $51.5 million in early 2019, led by Goldman Sachs Private Capital investing group with participation from existing investors including OpenView, M12 and Voyager Capital. Zipwhip has more than 30,000 businesses using its software and has text enabled more than 4 million landlines to date. Earlier this year Zipwhip ranked as the sixth best company to work for in Washington state by both Seattle Business Magazine and the Puget Sound Business Journal and most recently was ranked ninth in Puget Sound Business Journal’s list of Washington’s Most Equitable Workplaces.

For more information and photos of Zipwhip’s new Seattle headquarters, please visit: https://www.zipwhip.com/blog/text-855-zip-fact-to-learn-the-history-behind-zipwhip-hqs-meeting-room-names/.

About Zipwhip

Zipwhip empowers companies to communicate with their customers in the most effective and preferred way possible – texting. As the pioneer of Texting for Business™, Zipwhip first enabled texting to and from existing landline, VoIP and toll-free phone numbers in 2014. Zipwhip’s direct network connectivity, intuitive cloud-based software and an enterprise-grade API mean businesses can use any computer or mobile device to securely and reliably reach their customers, every time. Your customers are only a text away: https://www.zipwhip.com/.