WeWork raises $500m to push ahead with China expansion

Co-working and community service provider WeWork announced on Thursday a $500 million series B investment in WeWork China lead by Trustbridge Partners, Temasek, the SoftBank Group, the SoftBank Vision Fund and Hony Capital.

The funding will be used to accelerate the growth of WeWork in China by reaching into more cities and bringing more of WeWork's global business lines into the country in the hope of helping Chinese companies to both scale up in the domestic market and expand around the world, according to WeWork.

"This investment will help WeWork fuel our mission to support creators, small businesses and large companies across China," said WeWork's co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann.

"While there is still much to do and learn, this investment highlights the potential for WeWork and our community of creators in the region and reaffirms our dedication to our team, our members and our partners in China," he said.

Feng Ge, managing partner of Trustbridge Partners, called WeWork as a company that's "paving the way for a new future of work in China". Over time, the company has also supported the country's transformation from Made in China to Created in China, he said.

With the opening of its first location in China two years ago, WeWork has now more than 20,000 members using its services at 43 locations in three cities in the country. It will tap into Chengdu, Shenzhen and Hangzhou in the next three months. By the end of this year, WeWork will have up to 50 locations in China.

In July 2017, WeWork China was founded and received its $500 million series A investment from Hony Capital and SoftBank.

In April this year, WeWork acquired the local co-working brand naked Hub with reportedly $400 million. So far, the cooperation has been running successfully with naked Hub still operating as an independent brand. But eventually, the two will merge into one brand, according to source close to the latest deal.