WeWork’s troubling numbers, Carousell’s latest figures, Instarem’s record growth

Dear readers,

A lot went down last week, starting with the release of WeWork’s listing prospectus. We did an initial analysis that looked at its significant revenue pipeline and astronomical valuation.

What we didn’t track, however, was how long it’ll take for each WeWork location to turn a profit. One Francis Davidson did so and produced this analysis on Twitter:

Image credit: Francis Davidson

In a nutshell, it takes six years for each location to return the money invested. Considering WeWork’s significant burn rate, would six years be too long? Or would it eventually trim on its upfront costs with each new space?

In any case, one wonders what effect WeWork’s spending spree has on other co-working spaces in Asia. Would they be forced to match WeWork’s spending?

Moving on, we also looked at Carousell’s numbers and found that it posted US$7 million in revenue and $25 million in losses in 2018.

We also peeked at cross-border payments firm Instarem, which achieved record growth in 2018 and is eyeing an initial public offering in 2022.

As usual, if you’d like to support our in-depth reporting on Asia’s tech scene, do subscribe.

Check out the rest of our premium content from the past week:

Big spenders

• A trillion dollars, but Alibaba’s still got a problem
• The Philippines’ richest firms are ramping up tech, startup investments. Here’s a roundup
• Commentaries: Dishonestbee 🐝, Visa, Rocket and more

Startup movements

• Rising startups on Tech In Asia: self-learning, sneakers, and more
• Property marketplace 99.co raises $15m series B round
• These are the most active investors in Japan’s startups

Old but gold

• 7x GMV growth in 1 year: How Indonesian cosmetics e-tailer Sociolla did it
• The untold story behind the GMVs of Southeast Asia’s ecommerce titans
• Why Grab is targeting travel and tourism as its next vertical

Cheers,
Terence
Chief editor