INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
WeWork may have combined forces with its fiercest rival in China, Naked Hub, in a recent merger, but its new enemy numero uno in the
country is also building up a roster of friends through aggressive MA.
Ucommune may not be spending the kind of cash WeWork China did — it
reportedlyspent $400 million to get Naked Hub — but it is quietly picking up smaller rivals via acquisitions
Last week, it completed its fourth piece of MA of the past yearwith a deal to buyWorkingdom for 300 million RMB, or roughly $45
million.
Two-year-oldWorkingdomoffers working spaces in Shanghai, and online services that help SMEs and multinationals growth their
businesses.
An acquisition spree from Ucommune — which was forced to rebrand from UrWork following a lawsuit from WeWork — has seen
itsnap up lesser but strategic playersWedo, Woo Spaceand New Spaceto boost its presence and rival WeWork
All told, and thanks to these deals, Ucommune claims to operate 60 offices in Beijing, 20 more in Shanghai and a significant presence
inGuangdong, Macau and Hong Kong.
In comparison, Naked Hub says it has 10,000 members across its 24 office locations while WeWork says it
has 10,000 members in 13 locations in Greater China
firm plans to grow its reach to 40 offices by the end of this year, a move that it says will quadruple its membership numbers in China to
40,000.
Those numbers explainwhy the acquisition deals aren&t likely to stop any time soon for Ucommune.
The Chinese he company said in its
latest announcement that it will &continue to acquire more co-working companies to grow its global footprint.& Currently, its presence
outside of China includes New York and Singapore, but it is clearly exploiting the bursting of the co-working bubble which initially
attracted a huge number of companies to the space, particularly in China.
Inside a Ucommune space
Ucommune last raised money when it
closed a $17 million round at a valuation of 9 billion RMB ($1.4 billion) in February 2018
Post-acquisitions, the company said that it plans to return to private investors with the goal of raising further capital at an enhanced
valuation of 11 billion RMB, or $1.65 billion.
That some way short of WeWork gargantuan figures
The company has raised capital at a valuation of $20 billion, whilenewer reports suggest the figure has ballooned to $35 billion in its
latest quest for additional financing, but the continued efforts of Ucommune will give WeWork food for thought in China.
