WeWork nabs huge $430M Series F to expand to China

As I sit writing from the fourth floor of

’s Soho West location, the room is buzzing. A handful of entrepreneurs are pacing around the office, closing deals on their smartphones while their peers exchange ideas over coffee in the communal kitchen. This space embodies coworking at its finest—a fragment of creators working in the same place to innovate and disrupt.

Yesterday, WeWork raised a whopping $430 million Series F at a $16 billion valuation. This new funding comes just nine months after the coworking juggernaut raised a $433.93 million Series E with a $10 billion valuation.

So, just how big is WeWork’s new round? As huge as it is, it’s not unprecedented. Actually, it’s not even in the top 10 funding rounds we’ve seen in the last two years. Uber raised $1.6 billion in January, and is said be in talks to close a $2.8 billion Series E.

However, the new valuation makes WeWork the sixth most valuable private company, trouncing SpaceX, Pinterest, Dropbox and Spotify. 

Since arriving onto the New York tech scene in 2010, the company has expanded to cities across the country and the world. In total, WeWork has 77 coworking spaces throughout  New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Miami, Chicago, Austin, Berkeley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle, with international locations in London, Montreal, Berlin and Amsterdam, along with new locations in Tel Aviv, Be'er Sheva and Herzliya in Israel.

“As we expand into new countries, new cities, and new neighborhoods, our spaces are not only platforms for our members, but also for the communities that surround them,” said WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann in a blog post. “This year, our members have already created thousands of new jobs and businesses empowering people around the world to take ownership of their lives.”

And WeWork is growing at a rapid clip—with specific plans to launch in China. The latest round was led by Legend Holdings and its subsidiary, Hony Capital. The investors plan to help the company with its China launch.

“Not only does WeWork have one of the largest addressable markets I have ever seen, but the quality of its execution and fit for the Chinese culture is unparalleled,” said Hony Capital CEO John Zhao. “Our investment in WeWork is both strategic and obvious.”

WeWork plans to open 376 office locations by the end of 2018. These ambitions come in congruence with the company’s goal to launch a series of coliving spaces, which was revealed earlier this year.

For a full history on WeWork’s rise to the startup world, click here.

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