WeWork investors Hony Capital and SoftBank have created a $500 million joint venture on the side with the co-working company to help expand its footprint in China.
The Chinese private equity firm and the Japanese telecommunications company will own minority stakes in the investment vehicle, WeWork China, which the startup will manage, Bloomberg News reported.
WeWork has an equity stake in the new company, but the exact breakdown of investments was not known.
Christian Lee, WeWork’s head of global development, will run WeWork China out of the company’s regional headquarters in Shanghai.
The company now operates eight locations in China and plans to have about 15,000 members in the country by the end of the year.
WeWork earlier this month completed a $760 million, Series G fundraising round that valued the company at $20 billion, more than real estate investment trusts like Boston Properties and Vornado Realty Trust.
WeWork is facing competition in China from rivals that already have networks of office space and have similar names, such as UrWork. [Bloomberg] – Rich Bockmann