By Dipo Olowookere
WeWork has announced a $500 million investment in a new entity focused on fuelling its growth and expansion in Southeast Asia and Korea.
This investment underlines the potential for WeWork in Asia and follows on the heels of WeWork’s other recent investment news from the region: a $500 million investment with SoftBank and Hony Capital dedicated to WeWork’s expansion across China, and a joint venture with SoftBank to bring WeWork’s transformational community to Japan.
WeWork, in a statement, also disclosed that it would acquire Singapore-based coworking company Spacemob, including its founder and CEO, Turochas ‘T’ Fuad, and his team. Fuad will become Managing Director of Southeast Asia for WeWork and will oversee the company’s expansion in the region.
Fuad founded Spacemob in early 2016 and quickly grew the company to multiple locations in Singapore, with spaces in Indonesia and Vietnam scheduled to open soon. Prior to founding Spacemob in early 2016, Fuad founded and sold two startups: WUF Networks and Travelmob. Fuad also held senior roles in Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific for Yahoo! and Skype, respectively.
Matt Shampine, currently Head of Marketing and Revenue for Asia, has been appointed General Manager of Korea for WeWork. Shampine originally joined WeWork in 2010 as a member and his digital agency went on to be a founding member of WeWork Labs. In 2013, he joined WeWork as an employee, initially as Director of Strategic Partnerships. More recently, Shampine has played a key role in WeWork’s entry and subsequent expansion in Asia.
Miguel McKelvey, Co-Founder and Chief Culture Officer of WeWork, said: “Today’s announcement reaffirms WeWork’s commitment to scaling our business across Asia. We are amazed and humbled by the response to WeWork so far and look forward to continuing to build our vibrant and diverse community in the rapidly evolving region.
“To be part of WeWork is to be connected to one of the most meaningful business networks in the world and we are excited to invite new members from some of the most creative and innovative cities on the globe.
“I speak for the entire WeWork team and our 130,000 members when I say I am incredibly excited to have T and the team from Spacemob join us in our mission to create a world where people work to make a life, not just a living.”
Christian Lee, Managing Director of WeWork Asia, said: “I’m delighted to welcome T and Matt to the Asia management team. Both are seasoned entrepreneurs with deep roots in Southeast Asia and they will be invaluable as we scale the business across the region. Matt’s WeWork experience — as both a member and an employee — will be critical as we expand our offerings in Korea. With Spacemob, T and his team will accelerate our efforts to establish WeWork in key Southeast Asia markets. The Spacemob business that T has built is a testament to him and his team’s capabilities.”
Turochas “T” Fuad, Managing Director of Southeast Asia for WeWork said: “WeWork’s purpose-driven approach to providing businesses of any size with the space, community, and services they need to thrive is without equal. I could not be more proud to lead WeWork’s expansion in Southeast Asia. The region represents close to nine percent of the world’s population, it is an exciting market full of budding entrepreneurs, enterprises and creators, and that is a massive opportunity for WeWork. I know that we will have a meaningful impact on these communities. My team and I cannot wait to get started on what promises to be an incredible journey.”
Matt Shampine, General Manager of Korea for WeWork said: “It has been exciting to launch WeWork in Asia and to see the WeWork vision and community take shape here. To see the way new members have grasped WeWork’s core values has been inspiring, educational and fun. The region has so much potential, I have no doubt that current and future WeWork members in Asia — and especially in Korea — will thrive and contribute in a positive and meaningful way to WeWork’s global community. It’s going to be exciting to be part of it and I’m ready for the challenge.”
Adedapo Adesanya