Pet-sitting startup Rover snags new HQ with room for 700 people — plus their dogs – GeekWire

Rover is getting a new canine area.

The Seattle pet-sitting market is leasing the highest 5 flooring of the eighth + Olive development in downtown Seattle for a new headquarters, GeekWire has realized. The 91,150-square-foot house can have room for greater than 700 workers, in addition to the handfuls of dogs that may sign up for them at paintings on a regular basis.

Jovana Teodorovic, Rover’s head of people and tradition, mentioned the corporate is bursting on the seams with nearly all of its 412 workers, and their dogs, stuffed right into a just about 50,000-square-foot house in Seattle’s Belltown group. Though the new administrative center gained’t be able till the tip of subsequent yr, Rover was once in a position to get get admission to to considered one of its 5 flooring at eighth + Olive in an instant to alleviate its house crunch.

“We have gotten used to being close to each other, which we love, but having more space for people and dogs to focus on what they are working on,” shall be useful, Teodorovic mentioned.

Rover’s transfer is the most recent signal of the booming tech economic system within the Seattle area, following a string of IPOs and primary investment rounds this spring.

Born out of a Startup Weekend tournament in 2011, Rover now operates some of the in style puppy sitting platforms within the U.S. and Canada. In May Rover raised a whopping $155 million. It was once one of the crucial greatest investments in a Washington corporate ever, and it introduced the so-called Airbnb for pets to greater than $310 million raised.

Rover, ranked No. 18 at the GeekWire 200, is regularly discussed as an IPO candidate. The corporate demurred when requested about going public, as a substitute emphasizing Rover’s plans to carry its provider to much more markets.

Rover is increasing across the world and lately introduced a new European headquarters. Teodorovic mentioned Rover simply introduced within the United Kingdom.

As it grows, Rover is dealing with stiff pageant from Wag. The Los Angeles-based puppy care provider raised a huge $300 million spherical from Japanese tech large SoftBank.

Rover received considered one of its best competition, DogVacay, ultimate yr. Rover introduced the staff below its umbrella, expanding the availability of canine sitters and insist for services and products on Rover, and shuttered DogVacay, one thing the two corporations agreed on as a part of the deal.

Seattle’s tech growth is making it tricky for fast-growing corporations like Rover to search out house. Real property corporate Kidder Mathews experiences that the share of vacant administrative center house within the area hit a 10-year low in the second one quarter, coming at 6.eight p.c.

A balanced marketplace is round 10 p.c emptiness, and the rest under that favors landlords and ends up in emerging rents. In fresh years, Amazon has devoured up just about each and every to be had development, using down emptiness. Kidder Mathews experiences there are best 25 blocks of house over 50,000 sq. toes to be had in all the Seattle house.

When Rover strikes into the 20-story eighth + Olive development, it is going to sign up for different tech corporations like Airbnb, which lately opened an enduring administrative center there, and Avvo. The corporate remains to be designing its new administrative center, however Teodorovic mentioned it is going to indubitably be dog-centric.

“We have a lot of different doggie gates and different things around all our desks throughout the whole office,” Teodorovic. “We’ve been really crafty and scrappy with our solutions in our current office, and now we’re actually getting customized solutions that are going to be both attractive and really useful.”

As corporations develop, they regularly cobble in combination the administrative center as they cross, making them not able to position in one of the crucial options they in point of fact need. In the case of Rover, the corporate has a large number of conferences, and the new house can have much more convention and assembly rooms.

As tech corporations proceed to compete for best skill, administrative center house has change into a key perk. In addition to 5 flooring of administrative center house, Rover can even occupy the roof of eighth + Olive, which can have quite a lot of dog-friendly options and spots for workers to break out.

Based on its jobs web page, it looks as if Rover will haven’t any drawback filling up its new house. It has a complete of 67 open positions, maximum of that are in Seattle. It may be taking a look to team of workers up places of work in Spokane, Wash. and Berlin. As it expands across the world, Rover is taking a look for a rustic release supervisor and a head of Canada.