Our mission since announcing the first WeWork China location in 2016 has been to provide Chinese businesses the space, services, and community they need to make a life, not just a living.
We’ve stayed committed to that mission over the past two years, as WeWork China currently supports 20,000 members spanning nearly 40 locations across three cities, with plans to expand to six new cities in 2018, including Shenzhen, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, and Wuhan.
Honoring our initial commitment, WeWork is announcing today a $500 million Series B investment in WeWork China led by Trustbridge Partners, Temasek, SoftBank and the SoftBank Vision Fund, and Hony Capital.
This is the second major round of funding for WeWork China. The first—a $500 million investment from SoftBank and Hony Capital announced last summer—was dedicated to fueling WeWork’s growth and expanding its operations throughout China.
“This investment will help WeWork fuel our mission to support creators, small businesses, and large companies across China,” said CEO and cofounder Adam Neumann. “WeWork has built an incredible team in China that supports our members every day, serving as a bridge for local companies who want to reach the world as well as for global companies that want to enter the Chinese market.”
Neumann thanked WeWork’s local partners and said the funding reaffirms the “dedication to our team, our members, and our partners in China.”
Strategic decisions, like our acquisition of NakedHub earlier this year, have allowed WeWork China to support businesses of all sizes. We’re particularly excited about our team’s continued partnership with female-led businesses, which has led to women making up over 50 percent of membership in China.
“WeWork is paving the way for a new future of work in China and supporting the transformation from Made in China to Created in China,” said Feng Ge, managing partner of Trustbridge Partners. “Whether entrepreneurs are just starting out, Chinese companies are looking to take their business global, or international enterprises want to do business here, they know WeWork is the local partner they need.”
Lululemon chose to move its new HQ to a WeWork location in Shanghai instead of building its own space, and our team enabled Chinese companies like Mobike and Didi to accelerate their global expansion by helping them move into spaces across our network of locations in over 70 cities around the world.
“WeWork has demonstrated that it understands what businesses in China need to succeed,” said Ronald D. Fisher, vice chairman of SoftBank Group Corp. “Through this investment, we look forward to WeWork continuing to support many more companies of all sizes across Greater China.”
“Over the past two years, we’ve seen what WeWork’s growing presence in China can accomplish,” said John Zhao, chairman and chief executive officer of Hony Capital.
“WeWork is a global connector bringing entrepreneurs, startups, and large enterprise companies from around the world together.”
