New York-based WeWork, the largest co-working space provider in the world, opened its Singapore flagship space, WeWork Beach Centre, on Dec 1, with an official launch party on Dec 14. The space, which occupies the first three floors of Beach Centre on Beach Road, has more than 690 desks and is already almost filled up.
The reception and lounge area of WeWork Beach Centre (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Global tech company HP Inc and cloud communications company Twilio as well as start-ups such as restaurant booking app Chope, digital insurance app PolicyPal and digital wealth manager StashAway are WeWork members, and located at WeWork Beach Centre.
A second WeWork co-working space will open at 71 Robinson Road in the CBD early this year. It will be its largest — with more than 1,000 desks across three floors. The third WeWork office will occupy 40,000 sq ft of space across two floors (levels 4 and 5) of Funan’s office block and will have more than 700 desks. It is scheduled to open in early 2019. The co-working or collaborative work space at Funan is a “co-creation” between WeWork and CapitaLand Mall Trust.and Southeast Asia.
Growing footprint
Turochas “T” Fuad, managing director of WeWork Southeast Asia, was the founder of Spacemob, which WeWork acquired last August as part of its US$500 million ($664 million) expansion in Southeast Asia and South Korea. Spacemob, a Singapore-based co-working operator, was founded by Fuad in early 2016. It received US$5.5 million in seed funding from Temasek Holdings’ venture capital arm Vertex Ventures and Alpha JWC Ventures in November that year
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Fuad: At WeWork, we don’t see ourselves as just a co-working space operator. We are community builders
(Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Besides appointing Fuad as managing director of WeWork Southeast Asia, the company has also absorbed his team of 20 at Spacemob. For now, Spacemob continues to operate its co-working space at 8 Claymore Hill and Ascent on Science Park Drive in Singapore as well as in Jakarta. “At the moment, the Spacemob locations are still operating,” says Fuad. “All the members will also be able to access the WeWork locations.”
The opening of WeWork Beach Centre last month marked the group’s 200th location and its entry into the 20th country. The expansion is the latest in Asia for WeWork as it grows its footprint of co-working spaces to new markets beyond the US. Last August saw Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp and its Vision Fund invest US$4.4 billion in WeWork. This includes US$500 million for a WeWork project in China and a joint venture in Japan. Another US$500 million has been earmarked for expansion into Southeast Asia and South Korea.
The pantry and communal area at WeWork Beach Centre (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
WeWork’s first landing point in Asia was in China two years ago, says Fuad. It has two locations there currently, with several more in the pipeline. In Southeast Asia, it is looking at expanding into key cities, namely Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City. “We’re looking at the first-tier cities,” says Fuad.
Beyond co-working
However, Fuad says, “At WeWork, we don’t see ourselves as just a co-working space operator. We are community builders.” The company develops technology and designs spaces including lighting and furnishing that can be plugged into WeWork spaces around the world. Today, it has more than 20,000-member companies with more than 175,000 members globally. The company also uses heat maps to track how spaces are being used, and then leverages its R&D data when it designs future WeWork spaces. “It’s about economies of scale, not just space optimisation,” Fuad notes.
Communal space for ping-pong and interaction among members at WeWork Beach Centre (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
WeWork was co-founded by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey and launched in 2010. The company is valued at US$20 billion and is one of the top office tenants in New York City. It is set to become one of the biggest private tenants of office space in London, according to a Bloomberg report last month. “A lot of companies, including those from China and India, are looking at flexible office space arrangements,” says Fuad. “We’re looking at how we can support them.”
That has led to the provision of its “Powered by We” services. It will help companies manage and operate their office premises in the WeWork style and with the WeWork vibe, says Fuad. WeWork’s R&D team will speak to employees of the company to find out how they use their space and what they would like to have, the number of meeting rooms, phone conference booths, privacy and communal space required. WeWork will then provide customised solutions to the specific needs of the company at their respective spaces. According to Fuad, enterprise members now account for about 20% of the company’s business.
One of the many office suites at WeWork Beach Centre (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Co-living
The company has also expanded into co-living with WeLive. There are now three WeLive co-living spaces located in New York, Washington DC and Seattle. “The misconception is that co-living is like a high-end dormitory,” says Fuad. “However, WeLive has apartments with three or even four bedrooms. There will be one level of shared facilities for residents. It’s also ideal to have WeLive and WeWork in the same building.”
According to Fuad, there is a possibility of launching WeLive in Asia. “WeLive is a much broader concept than a typical serviced apartment operation. Likewise, WeWork provides more than just co-working or serviced office space. We build communities.”
Regardless of what WeWork calls itself, with a US$20 billion valuation, it is now ranked among the most highly valued private US tech unicorns after Airbnb and Uber.