WeWork Announces Winners of Earth Month Initiative Supporting Sustainability-Focused Startups, in Partnership with Oatly and City Leaders

National Earth Month pitch competition series awarded over $1 million in WeWork flexible space offerings and business mentorship from Oatly to startups focused on sustainability

New York, NY – May 9, 2022 – WeWork (NYSE: WE), a leading flexible space provider, and Oatly (Nasdaq: OTLY), the world’s original and largest oat drink company, today announced the winners of WeWork Changemakers: Sustainability Series, a national pitch competition series celebrating startups striving to make a positive impact on the environment.

WeWork launched WeWork Changemakers: Sustainability Series in partnership with Oatly to champion entrepreneurs taking action toward a more sustainable future. Throughout April, WeWork hosted competitions in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C. during which finalists pitched their businesses to partners including San Francisco Mayor Breed, D.C. Deputy Mayor Falcicchio, New York City Mayor Adams’ Office of Climate and Sustainability Senior Policy Advisor Samuel Man, chambers of commerce and nonprofit organizations.

Winners of WeWork Changemakers: Sustainability Series include:

  • Boston: The Farmer Foodie – The Farmer Foodie “Everything Cheeze” is a raw vegan, gluten free, and soy free delicious Cashew Parmesan Alternative. It is inherently sustainable with its plant-based organic ingredients and long shelf life.
  • Chicago: blip energy – Everyone deserves access to energy storage, so blip energy is building blipOne, the world’s most accessible smart home battery.
  • New York City (1): ReVert Technologies, Inc.Creator of the Teak Smart Cube, the next-gen power extender that helps users effortlessly save electricity on plugged-in devices and reduce carbon footprint at home with AI.
  • New York City (2): Voltpost – Voltpost retrofits lamp posts into smart electric vehicle charging stations managed by a mobile application.
  • San Francisco: Alga Biosciences – Alga is decreasing agricultural methane emissions using one of the most scalable resources on the planet: algae.
  • Washington, D.C.: United By Zero – United By Zero connects you to brands making eco-friendly clothing in styles you love. 

At each of the pitch competitions, a grand prize winner was awarded with dedicated WeWork office space for one year, as well as business mentorship programming and a series of collaborative work sessions from Oatly. Two runners-up in each city were awarded with WeWork All Access memberships, providing access to hundreds of WeWork locations all around the world. In total, WeWork dedicated more than $1 million in its flexible space offerings to support the sustainability-focused businesses who won prizes in the competition series.

“It’s clear that the problems of tomorrow need solutions today,” said John Falcicchio, Washington, D.C. Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. “We are so proud of all the fantastic sustainability startups in D.C. working to provide our city with a better future and are grateful for partners, like WeWork and Oatly, who understand the value of amplifying these causes. By celebrating the companies focused on preserving and improving our planet, we can move towards creating sustainable and impactful change together.”

“We’re excited to announce the winners of the WeWork Changemakers: Sustainability Series pitch competitions and to welcome these innovators into the WeWork community,” said Melinda Holland, President and COO of The Americas at WeWork. “At WeWork, we firmly believe that change happens when communities unite, as we’ve done here with Oatly and city leaders across the country. By working together to support entrepreneurs finding sustainable solutions, we get one step closer to making a positive impact on the environment.”

​​“Oatly is thrilled to have collaborated with WeWork and city leaders in the Changemakers: Sustainability Series and we’re incredibly excited by the sustainability work that the winning entrepreneurs are putting out into the world,” said Mike Messersmith, President, Oatly North America. “We truly believe that companies can and should be part of the solution to climate change and that collectively as a business community we can have a meaningful impact on the future of our planet.”

For more information about WeWork Changemakers: Sustainability Series, please visit we.co/sustainabilityseries

About WeWork

WeWork (NYSE: WE) was founded in 2010 with the vision to create environments where people and companies come together and do their best work. Since then, we’ve become one of the leading global flexible space providers committed to delivering technology-driven turnkey solutions, flexible spaces, and community experiences. For more information about WeWork, please visit us at wework.com.

About Oatly

Oatly is the world’s original and largest oat drink company. For over 25 years, we have exclusively focused on developing expertise around oats: a global power crop with inherent properties suited for sustainability and human health. Our commitment to oats has resulted in core technical advancements that enabled us to unlock the breadth of the dairy portfolio, including alternatives to milks, ice cream, yogurt, cooking creams, and spreads. Headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, the Oatly brand is available in more than 20 countries globally. For more information, please visit www.oatly.com.

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