Ucommune, a China-based co-working space provider backed by property developers Prosperity Holdings, Junfa Group, Yintai Land and Dahong Group, is gearing up for a $200m initial public offering, DealStreetAsia reported today.
The offering is set to take place on an unspecified US stock exchange as soon as 2020, people familiar with the matter said, adding that Ucommune will seek to raise a minimum of $100m through the listing.
The news follows reports in February 2019 that Ucommune had hired investment banks Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase for an IPO later this year. It was reportedly looking to go public by the third quarter of 2018 but was caught out by tensions between China and the US.
Founded in 2015 as URWork, Ucommune operates a network of 200 co-working spaces across 37 cities in China, Singapore, the UK and US. It offers individual desks in shared spaces in addition to private, customised offices that can stretch across an entire floor, and event spaces.
Proceeds from the IPO would help fund Ucommune’s ongoing rivalry with US-headquartered WeWork as well as domestic competitors Kr Space and MyDreamPlus. Ucommune hopes to grow its network to 300 locations within three years.
Ucommune secured $29.8m from an undisclosed real estate affiliate of industrial conglomerate Beijing Xingpai Group in April 2019 that brought its total funding to approximately $745m.
The company received $43.5m in an August 2018 round co-led by Prosperity and, reportedly, RK Properties, a property development branch of infrastructure developer Road King Infrastructure.
Prosperity Holdings, Beijing Land Capital, conglomerate Aikang Group and media company Star Group co-led a $178m pre-series C round for Ucommune in August 2017, with participation from Xingpai. The latter had already injected $58m in funding four months earlier.
Junfa Group and Dahong Group backed a $58.4m round in January 2017 together with Tianhong Asset Management, an affiliate of financial services provider Ant Financial, as well as Shanghai Chuanghehui Fund and Tianming Shuangchuang Technology.
Yintai Land had taken part in a $46m round for the company the previous year, alongside Zhongrong International Trust, Gopher Asset Management, CIC Hanfor, Sequoia Capital and ZhenFund.
Ucommune’s shareholders also include Qianhai Wutong Mergers and Acquisitions Funds, CKing Home-Key Investment Group and Context Lab.
– Feature image courtesy of Ucommune.
