South Korea-based co-working space operator SparkPlus has completed a ₩30bn ($25.2m) series B round backed by building materials producer Asia Cement and hotel chain Aju Hotels and Resorts, The Investor has reported.
The round included STIC Ventures, a vehicle for private equity group STIC Investments, as well as real estate investment trust Koramco, Intervest and Aju IB Investment, while Asia Cement participated through its Wooshin Venture Investment subsidiary.
SparkPlus operates 12 coworking sites in the city of Seoul with an average occupation rate of 95%, and plans to launch two more sites in 2020.
Founded by Aju Hotels and accelerator SparkLabs, SparkPlus also offers training and investor connections for new startups, and can provide larger businesses with scaled up residences that can fill an entire office floor.
The company now aims to expand with new co-working spaces that will be built in partnership with real estate developers and maintained with the help of its consulting services.
Sparkplus CEO Mok Jin-gun said its approach diverged from that of fellow co-working space operator WeWork, adding: “Although our investors also expressed concerns after WeWork’s plans faltered, they knew that Sparkplus is different from competitors since it has a solid business model.”
The series B funding brought the company’s overall funding to approximately $50m according to The Investor.
Sparkplus secured $17.8m in a September 2018 series A round backed by Wooshin Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Venture Investment and IBK Capital, the latter two representing financial services provider Mirae Asset and development bank Industrial Bank of Korea respectively, as well as Intervest, STIC Ventures and Medici Investment.