Convene Profile: Pandemic Layoffs, Business Model, and Current Status

Category: events, venues, and creator marketplaces
Pandemic-layoff role: Additional sourced company
Last updated: 2026-09-25
Related article: The Pandemic Layoff Stress Test

Pandemic-role map

Reader shorthand: meetings-and-events venue operator whose product became unusable under gathering restrictions.
What Convene did for customers: ran meeting, event and flexible office space, often as shared amenity floors inside office buildings.
What broke in the pandemic: conferences, corporate meetings and office events stopped, and Convene closed every location in March 2020.
Relief role: not a lender, referral agent or support-software vendor. It was a direct casualty of lost venue demand.
Data/support role: a high-service physical-space model that software could not replace.

Founders, Executives, and Investors

Ryan Simonetti co-founded Convene in New York in 2009 and was its chief executive through the pandemic. Commercial Observer reported in March 2020 that the company had raised more than $260 million from real-estate backers including RXR Realty, the Durst Organization and Brookfield Asset Management.

Business Before the Pandemic

Convene ran meeting, event and shared-amenity space in office buildings for landlords and their tenants. In March 2020 it had 28 locations in the U.S. and employed about 832 people, according to a spokesperson. Its sites included New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Boston.

What the Pandemic Changed

The closures came first. In the week of March 16, 2020, Convene shut 17 locations after a member at a New York City space contracted the coronavirus, then closed all 28 as restrictions tightened. By March 20 it had laid off close to a fifth of its staff, nearly 150 people, and was furloughing others, Commercial Observer reported. "After closing all of our locations, we have had to take the additional measure of saying goodbye to nearly 20% of our team across the company and furloughing others," Simonetti told Business Insider. Laid-off employees received one month of severance plus a week for each year of service, and a month of healthcare coverage.

On March 24 Simonetti wrote on the company blog that Convene had laid off 17% of its workforce and furloughed hundreds. He said the company was working with "shareholders, landlord partners, lenders and clients to ensure the security of Convene's future." He set up a Convene Relief Fund for employees, funded by voluntary donations from the leadership team and his entire salary. Layoffs.fyi recorded the cut as 150 people, 18% of staff, across all departments, alongside layoffs at the coworking companies WeWork, Knotel, Industrious and The Wing.

Business After the First Shock

Convene kept operating and later launched a parent company, Convene Hospitality Group. Its website also markets a second venue brand, etc.venues. Its blog has since announced $230 million in strategic growth capital and a venue called Convene Rathbone, due to open in London's West End in 2027.

Where the Company Is Now

Private company, trading as Convene within Convene Hospitality Group. In 2026 its website listed U.S. locations in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., and U.K. locations in London and Manchester.