WeWork’s China Subsidiary Is Raising $500 Million —Bloomberg
What happened: WeWork China will raise $500 million raising its valuation to $5 billion. Its investors include Trustbridge Partners, SoftBank, SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Temasek Holdings Pte., and Hony Capital. SoftBank and Temasek previously invested significant funds in the Chinese subsidiary. WeWork said this round of funding for its China arm could expand to as much as $700 million.
Why it’s important: WeWork is aggressively pushing into China where it faces a number of domestic rivals, most notably Ucommune (previously UrWork). The company last raised money in February when it closed a $17 million round at a valuation of RMB 9 billion ($1.4 billion). Ucommune does not have the kind of money WeWork has but has decided to step up its efforts with an acquisition spree. It recently bought several local co-working companies including Workingdom and has announced more to come. WeWork has also made acquisitions spending a high $400 million sum to get Naked Hub.