Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank has provided $1bn in convertible note financing for US-based shared working space provider WeWork, according to financial information released by the company yesterday.
WeWork runs a network of co-working spaces that now spans 436 locations across 81 cities worldwide, providing office space and a range of facilities such as high-grade office equipment and meeting rooms.
The financial data indicated that WeWork more than doubled its revenue from $362m to $764m in the first half of 2018, although its net loss also increased significantly from $154m to $723m in the same period.
The SoftBank investment will be converted to equity in WeWork’s next round which, if it is led by another investor, will value the company at a minimum of $42bn. Reports in June this year stated SoftBank was in talks with WeWork over a round that would value it at $35bn to $40bn.
WeWork and its regional subsidiaries have now raised at least $9.5bn in equity and debt financing, having secured $702m in April this year through a bond sale.
SoftBank and its $100bn Vision Fund invested $3bn in the company in August 2017 through a combination of primary and secondary share purchases, supplying an additional $1.4bn for WeWork subsidiaries WeWork China, WeWork Japan and WeWork Pacific.
SoftBank and private equity firm Hony Capital disclosed a $500m investment in WeWork China the month before, though that was likely included in the $1.4bn figure. WeWork China raised another $500m from SoftBank, Vision Fund, Hony Capital, Trustbridge Partners and Temasek last month.
WeWork itself had previously secured $760m in a July 2017 series G round backed by undisclosed investors that valued it at $20bn, four months after it received $300m from SoftBank at a reported $17bn valuation.
Legend Holdings, the conglomerate that formed Hony Capital, had joined Hony, hotel group Shanghai Jin Jiang International and an undisclosed family office to invest $690m in WeWork in a 2016 series D round.
Financial services and investment group Fidelity Management and Research, investment banks JP Morgan Investment Management and Goldman Sachs, T. Rowe Price, Benchmark and clients of Wellington Management Company are also among WeWork’s shareholders.