Brief: WeWork opens China subsidiary with $500m funding

Inside WeWork’s new space in Hong Kong’s Tower 535. Photo credit: WeWork.

The news:

• Co-working maven WeWork is taking China very seriously. In addition to the nine spaces it has already opened in Beijing and Shanghai, the US-based firm today announced it has set up a China subsidiary company.
• WeWork China, as it’s called, is backed by US$500 million from SoftBank and Hony Capital, the startup today said. It’s separate from recent funding for WeWork itself.
• “With Hony Capital and SoftBank’s financial support and deep expertise in the region, we’ll substantially grow our membership base in China and make WeWork the preeminent workspace solution and community in greater China,” said WeWork CEO Adam Neumann.

Why it matters:

• WeWork’s China subsidiary allows the firm to move faster as it pursues an array of rivals in the fast-growing co-working space industry.
• China’s URwork has emerged in the past year as WeWork’s strongest challenger. URwork has even expanded into Hong Kong and Singapore, with plans for a New York launch as well.
• URwork raised US$200 million earlier this month.