10/10/2018 – Indonesia’s co-working platform GoWork announced that it has raised S$13.8 million (about US$10 million) in a Series A funding co-led by Gobi Partners and The Paradise Group, an Indonesian retail and hospitality-focused property developer.
GoWork does not have immediate plans to venture into the international market but will instead focus on expanding in Bali, Surabaya, and other major cities in Indonesia.
It plans to use the proceeds to facilitate its expansion throughout the country — tripling its footprint in the next 12 to 18 months and targeting over 100,000 square meter in operations by early 2020.
GoWork currently has a 90 percent renewal rate for members, with over 90 percent occupancy within three months of launching operations across their locations.
“We are very bullish about the demand for our workspaces,” said Richard Lim, GoWork’s CFO and Chief of Real Estate, explaining that GoWork’s focus on location is the competitive advantage that will let the co-working startup emerge victorious in the incredibly crowded space in Southeast Asia.
“We focus on the prime malls and office buildings in Indonesia. A very unique characteristic of Jakarta is the traffic, it is a traffic-constrained city, which means that having the most prime locations is a key competitive advantage,” said Lim.
“So once you have secured those locations – which he have – any new entrants or existing players in the market, they are locked out of those areas,”
Besides, GoWork also places emphasis on the work-and-play philosophy through a strategic partnership with Ismaya Group, an Indonesian F&B and lifestyle brand. GoWork tenants under the “Gold Member” status can get special access to Ismaya Group properties and events.
“Ultimately, we want to be the single largest provider of quality workspaces in the whole of Indonesia, creating powerful business communities supported by our technology-enabled platform and proprietary mobile app which enables us to offer ever more valuable services to our members.”
The company positions itself as a premium co-working platform, providing well-designed and highly equipped workspaces for business communities in Indonesia.
GoWork is a rebrand of the company Go-Rework, which was formed in February 2018 after the merger between GoWork and ReWork. Together, the startup has 16 hub locations in Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bali, as well as more than 30 locations in partnership with Ismaya Group, which covers over 25,000 square meter of workspace.
The startup claims to have attracted over 8000 members and 600 companies to their workspaces since inception, and is operating at close to 100% occupancy.
Commenting on the deal, The Paradise Group’s COO Anthony Prabowo Susilo,said, “The Gowork team’s attention to uncompromisingly high quality design, focus on superior locations and outstanding tenant experience impressed us. We are excited to fully support GoWork’s ambitious growth plans with out long-standing experience and networks in real estate.”
Paradise Group owns and operates several malls including Plaza Indonesia – Jakarta, beachwalk – Bali, and 23 Paskal – Bandung.
