‘TripAdvisor of the co-working industry’ scores funding

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Coworker, a site that lets you search for, book, and review co-working spaces worldwide, has raised a US$500,000 round at a US$4.5 million post-money valuation form angel investors, the firm said today.

It’s not making money yet, but plans to fill a gap in the global co-working industry. There’s no reliable database for all the spaces available, something like a TripAdvisor for this category, says co-founder and CEO Leanne Beesley.

Co-working, or renting flexible office space with shared facilities, is a global trend on the rise. Research organization Small Business Labs thinks the number of people renting such spaces will grow globally from just under 1 million in 2016 to nearly 4 million in 2020.

Chains like WeWork from the US and Urwork from China have raised tens of millions of dollars to expand their network of branded co-working locations internationally.

Beesley started Coworker two years ago when she had trouble finding a suitable co-working location in Hong Kong. She focused first on getting as many places as possible listed and reviewed.

“Being on Coworker puts independent spaces on a level playing field so they can compete on equal terms with coworking giants like WeWork and UrWork,” she says.

Coworker has listed more than 5,000 spaces, with about 10,000 member reviews. The firm is registered in the US, but 1,400 of the spaces are in Asia, according to Beesley, and the region is growing fast. Beesley spends most of her time in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

When Coworker introduced a booking feature earlier in this year, India emerged as the country with the most bookings worldwide. That’s because of the many outsourcing teams working for global firms from within India, Beesley explains.

“Only a few co-working spaces cater specifically to the traveling freelancer, digital nomad type. What we see are startup teams and small businesses looking for flexible working arrangement within their own city.”

No booking commissions

Coworker, run by a team of 12 people who all work remotely, isn’t monetizing yet, Beesley admits. It wants to differentiate itself from co-working space aggregators like Flyspaces who take a commission for each booking. Flyspaces recently raised US$2.1 million to expand in Southeast Asia.

“We don’t believe in the booking commissions model, co-working spaces’ margins are already so thin,” Beesley says.

Instead, she plans to introduce packages where space operators pay to get more exposure on the site. Basic listing on the site and receiving bookings will remain free of charge.

WeWork and UrWork do not list their locations on Coworker yet, but Beesley says discussions are underway.

“Coworker is inclusive and open to anyone,” she says.

The startup’s angel investors are based in the US, China, Hong Kong, and Barcelona. Coworker had previously raised US$500,000 from angels last year, so the total amount of funding is US$1 million.

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from Tech in Asia https://www.techinasia.com/coworker-raises-500k
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