More than a year after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down tekMountain's in-person coworking space, company officials said recently that it will continue to operate virtually.
CastleBranch opened tekMountain in 2014 and has pushed out several startups out of the space since then.
Company officials in June 2020 sent out a notice to tekMountain members stating that the
tech startup space would transition into a virtual setting. Members left the coworking spaces in mid-March of last year as cases of the coronavirus began to spread.
"Since that time, the COVID-19 pandemic has persisted, and cases of the new Delta variant continue to rise. Because the world hasn't changed, neither has our approach," a spokesperson for CastleBranch said Friday. "tekMountain will continue to operate in a virtual setting for the foreseeable future to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of our community."
At the time last year of switching to a virtual model, officials said they would try to continue supporting business owners.
"This decision was not made lightly," company officials said at the time. "tekMountain was built to encourage entrepreneurs to grow and flourish – and we believe the sharing of ideas, network and knowledge will continue, even if it no longer takes place between our four walls. But the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us – and all coworking spaces – to re-examine how these spaces physically function and operate."
In the past year, while tekMountain's space remained off the area's space inventory, several
other coworking spaces have opened up.
