Making Spaces

Coworking space giant WeWork has huge appetite for Southeast Asia

- Ardian Wibisono

Property consultancy firm JLL recently made the interesting finding that 55% of leases signed in Jakarta in the first quarter of the year were made by technology and coworking space companies. Coworking space is certainly a growing business in Jakarta, and according to JLL’s head of research James Taylor many of these coworking spaces are moving from grade B to grade A buildings, thus explaining why coworking spaces in new buildings and premium malls in Jakarta’s CBD are most likely to be fully occupied. WeWork, the US-based company that pioneered coworking spaces, has been tapping the opportunities in this growing market in Indonesia. Two years ago the company invested $500 million in the Southeast Asian and South Korean markets. In Indonesia WeWork acquired local coworking space Spacemob in August 2017. WeWork currently has 19 spaces in cities in Southeast Asia, including five in Jakarta, out of their 647 locations worldwide as of the end of April.

Established by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey in 2010, WeWork was reported to be worth $47 billion in February, even bigger than similar companies like IWG (previously Regus) that basically rent spaces for companies. Unlike many coworking space companies that focus only on technology companies and startups, WeWork has signed up big established companies like Walmart and Amazon. Now around 30% to 40% of the company’s clients are in the Fortune 500. WeWork is aware that young people think differently in comparison with previous generations when they choose where to work. And a working environment that provides human connection and a supportive ambience are among the key factors.