Unicorn Insolvent: What It Says About Berlin's Coworking Market

What happened to the coworking operator Unicorn?

Unicorn is a Berlin-based flex office operator over whose assets the Charlottenburg Local Court ordered provisional self-administration on 7 July 2025. In autumn 2025, the proceedings turned into a regular insolvency, and the company has been wound down since then. Founded in 2015, Unicorn most recently operated around 16 locations with just under 20,000 square metres of space in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Potsdam and Lisbon, with around 45 employees (Coworking Europe, August 2025).

Self-administration does not mean an immediate end, because management initially remains in office and the proceedings run under judicial supervision. Decisive for the assessment: the locations have not disappeared. Competitor Scaling Spaces took over six Unicorn locations and thereby expanded into Munich, Hamburg and Cologne, among others. The case is therefore less a closure than a market shake-out, in which well-occupied spaces change operator.

For the Berlin startup scene it is nonetheless a turning point, as Unicorn helped shape the city's coworking landscape from 2015 and was long regarded as one of the most visible providers. That even an established operator of this size runs into trouble says more about the changed market conditions than about the individual company.

Why did Unicorn become insolvent?

The central reason was a structural cost problem: sharply increased rents of its own alongside short-term income. Unicorn cited above all index-linked leases and rent increases from its own landlords as a burden. This is exactly where the weak point of many flex office providers lies. They sell flexibility to their customers but take on long-term rental obligations themselves.

An operator rents a large space over many years, fits it out, furnishes it and runs reception, IT and cleaning. These fixed costs continue even when occupancy falls. In Germany, index-linked rents make the problem worse, because they are tied to the consumer price index and have risen automatically due to the inflation of recent years. As long as demand is high, the model works. As soon as occupancy and income weaken while the index-linked rent keeps climbing, the calculation tips over. Unicorn shows that a modern product alone is not enough if the economic foundation does not fit the market situation.

How has the Berlin office market changed since 2019?

Berlin has shifted from an almost fully let boom market to a much more selective market. At the end of 2019, the vacancy rate was around 1.3 percent, the lowest value since the early 1990s, with a prime rent of about €37 to €38 per square metre per month. In the first quarter of 2026, the vacancy rate is 8.4 percent and the prime rent is €46.00 (CBRE, Q1 2026). More vacancy and yet rising prime rents seem contradictory, but are typical: modern, well-located space remains in demand, while older and more poorly equipped properties come under pressure. The following overview shows the shift across the key figures.

Sources: vacancy and prime rent CBRE and JLL (Q1 2026), historical values CBRE Research and Berliner Sparkasse. Figures vary depending on the market report and definition.

Bottom line: Berlin has not crashed, but a seller's market has become a selective market with real negotiating room for tenants.

What role do home office and vacancy play?

The home office is the most important driver behind the rise in vacancy. According to the ifo Institute, the share of unused office workstations rose from around 4.6 percent (2019) to 12.3 percent (April 2023). More than one desk in ten was thus, on average, left empty most recently, which has noticeably reduced the space requirement of many companies. On top of this comes the typical time lag in the office market: companies rarely terminate leases immediately, and construction projects from boom times deliver new space even during a downturn.

Berlin experienced exactly this delayed tremor. Vacancy rose from 1.3 percent (2019) moderately at first, before the full force arrived in 2023 and 2024 and the rate shot up to around 8.8 percent by the end of 2024. In the first quarter of 2026, it is 8.4 percent, supported by picking-up take-up which, according to CBRE, rose by almost 50 percent year-on-year to 171,600 square metres. The market is therefore slowly absorbing the overcapacity. Striking here is the split: modern, centrally located space remains scarce, while vacancy is accumulating above all in older stock and secondary locations, so that location and building quality decide price and availability more strongly today than during the boom.

Why do companies put office space up for subletting?

More and more companies are offering unused space for subletting, because the home office and more cautious planning have led to overcapacity. Anyone who signed a long lease before or during the boom often sits today on more space than the team uses, and can hardly adjust the costs quickly under ongoing five- or ten-year contracts. The consequence: many companies hit the reset button, downsize and pass partial spaces to subtenants, often in central, high-quality locations.

How large this share is depends on the definition. Cushman & Wakefield puts the share of formal sublet offers in the vacancy at around 9 percent; the Berliner Sparkasse estimates, including informally offered space, up to a third. For companies on the hunt this is an opportunity, because sublet spaces are often already fitted out, furnished and available at short notice. They also often come in below the terms of comparable direct leases, because the surrendering tenant primarily wants to lower its ongoing costs. At the same time, this supply increases competition for classic coworking providers, which now compete not only against each other but also against cheap sublet space. Anyone who wants to sublet commercial office space in a targeted way or find a suitable sublet space can use specialised marketplaces such as SubOffice.

How are coworking spaces in Berlin doing right now?

Coworking in Berlin stands between crisis and opportunity, but is not finished. During the lockdowns, occupancy and revenue collapsed, and individual providers became insolvent, for example WorkRepublic in 2020. Even afterwards, the pressure remained high, because many operators service long-term leases themselves and could only push through price increases to a limited extent during the lull. In Berlin, first consolidations occurred when the Ahoy! Berlin location closed after drastically higher landlord terms. With Unicorn, a market-leading provider was then hit.

At the same time, the industry continues to grow: in prime locations, demand for flexible offices again exceeds supply, and in central Munich locations some spaces are almost fully occupied despite prices of €800 to €1,500 per workstation. New players are entering, such as Industrious in the Atrium Tower. Flexible terms and sizes are worth more in uncertain times than rigid contracts, which gives the industry a tailwind in the long term.

What happens to tenants when a coworking operator becomes insolvent?

When a coworking operator becomes insolvent, the users' situation depends above all on whether the location is continued or closed. In the Unicorn case, most locations were taken over by other operators, so that operations continued for many users under a new flag. In general: your contract initially continues to exist, and an insolvency administrator decides on continuation. If a location is handed to a new operator, the contacts and sometimes the terms often change, but the workspace usually remains usable.

It becomes more difficult when a location is given up entirely, because then you need an alternative at short notice. It is therefore worth clarifying, even before signing a contract, how long the minimum term is and how quickly you can switch. A short notice period and an economically stable operator are the best protection. For larger contracts, a brief legal look at the termination and insolvency clauses can be worthwhile.

What should you watch out for with a flexible office in Berlin now?

After the Unicorn case, what counts is not the lowest price per workstation, but the overall economics and the stability of the provider. A cheap rate is of little use if the location is up for review shortly after you move in. Before signing, therefore, check who operates the location and how economically stable the provider is, how long your contract runs and how quickly you can terminate, what happens to your contract if the operator gives up the location, and whether utilities, internet, cleaning and furniture are really included.

It also makes sense to compare several office formats rather than booking just the first coworking space you find. Whether a classic lease, flex office or coworking depends on team size, planned duration of use and budget. You can find an overview of the real costs in our guide What an office really costs in 2026. As a rule of thumb: the longer the planned duration of use, the more a classic lease pays off, while the flex office plays to its strengths over short and uncertain periods. A neutral comparison across several providers uncovers hidden costs and term traps before you commit.

Conclusion

Unicorn shows how strongly the Berlin office and coworking market has changed. The market is not finished, but the simple boom logic of recent years no longer works everywhere. Companies still want good offices, but with less risk, shorter commitments and more flexibility. Operators, at the same time, have to keep their fixed costs under control and run locations on a sound economic basis.

For Berlin, this means a more professional and more selective market, in which not every provider stays and not every space works, but well-calculated and flexible offers are in greater demand than ever. Anyone looking for an office in Berlin today should therefore ask not only where space is available, but which office format really fits their planning and risk. This is exactly what CoWorking Capital helps you with: we compare flexible offices, coworking spaces and business centres neutrally, commission-free for companies on the hunt. You can read how we work on our About us page.