Indonesian co-working space provider GoWork announced on October 10 that it has secured a Chinese investor, allowing it to shut a funding round.
The fresh investment comes as shared offices gain popularity in Southeast Asia’s growing technology sector. International investors, including Japanese SoftBank Groupare increasingly passionate about the growing industry.
GoWork’s $13.8 million Singapore dollar ($10 million) Series A investment, announced Oct. 10, was led by Chinese enterprise capital firm Gobi Partners and developer Indonesian Paradise Property. The Jakarta-based startup received a $2.5 million investment last 12 months led by Ucommune, China’s largest coworking company.
Other startups are attracting investor money. EV Hive, a Jakarta rival, raised $20 million in June from investors including Japan’s SoftBank Group.
Common Ground, a significant Malaysian coworking space operator, closed a $20 million Series A round of funding the identical month. And late last 12 months, Singaporean JustCo raised $12 million to expand its presence in Southeast Asia.
GoWork offers shared workspace options starting from a hot desk for around $8 a day to a non-public office for a monthly fee of $183 in offices in Jakarta, Surabaya and Bali.
Most of its 600 corporate clients are established technology firms resembling Grab, a frontrunner in Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing industry, in addition to multinational corporations, said CEO Vanessa Hendriadi.
The company said the brand new funding will probably be used to strengthen its operations and expand its coworking space from the present 10,000 square meters to almost 25,000 square meters by early 2019.
Players outside the region are also moving in. U.S. co-working leader WeWork acquired Singapore’s Spacemob last 12 months as a part of its $500 million investment plan to expand into Southeast Asia. Amsterdam-based Spaces made its regional debut in February, opening a brand new office in Bangkok.
Market observers attribute the rapid expansion to Southeast Asia’s status as a hotspot for startups and digital nomads, because of the region’s relatively low price of living, tech-savvy young workforce and digital infrastructure.
Co-working spaces could account for about 15% of office space in Southeast Asia by 2030, up from 5% today, global real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle estimates.
Hendriadi believes her company can grab a slice of that multibillion-dollar market. The 2-year-old startup says it has achieved nearly 100% occupancy rates across its 16 locations while also becoming profitable. In February, GoWork merged with local rival ReWork to strengthen its market position.
