URWork, the China-based working space provider backed by property developers Junfa Group, Dahong Group and Yintai Land, has agreed to merge with competitor and incubator New Space, China Money Network reported on Wednesday.
The deal will create a company with a valuation of RMB9bn ($1.3bn), and comes after URWork closed a $58.4m round in January this year that valued it at $1bn, according to Technode.
URWork runs a network of shared working spaces and also provides services such as marketing, accounting and human resources to startups. It has raised approximately $175m in funding since it was founded in 2015.
Junfa and Dahong both took part in the January round, which included Tianhong Asset Management, an affiliate of online financial services provider Ant Financial, as well as Tianming Shuangchuang Technology and Shanghai Chuanghehui Fund.
Yintai had invested in URWork’s $46m pre-series B round seven months earlier, which also featured Zhongrong International Trust, while Gopher Asset Management, CIC Hanfor, Sequoia Capital and ZhenFund are among the company’s earlier investors.
Also founded in 2015, New Space runs its own working spaces and also supplies incubation and fundraising services to startups. It has not revealed details of any external funding.
The combined group will oversee a total of more than 100 locations across 24 cities spanning not only China but also France and the UK, and intends to increase that number to 150 across 25 cities by 2020. Startups will be able to benefit from expertise and services provided by each company.
– Photo courtesy of URWork