China's largest co-working space operator UrWork has completed a RMB200 million (US$29 million) investment round from Beijing Aikang Group, a Chinese conglomerate in the healthcare, real estate and investment businesses.
Beijing Aikang Group is not to be confused with iKang Healthcare Group Inc., which is a NASDAQ-listed company focused on the private preventive healthcare business in China.
UrWork, valued at US$1.3 billion on China Money Network's China Unicorn Ranking, plans to cooperate with Aikang Group to create healthcare-focused co-working spaces to support start-ups in the sector.
Founded in 2015, UrWork currently operates over 100 locations in 24 cities globally, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, New York and London. The company plans to expand to 150 locations in 35 cities within the next three years, making available a total of 100,000 desks to almost 10,000 companies.
UrWork houses some of China's most well-known start-ups, including bike sharing companies Mobike and ofo, Amazon's China team, and Chinese personalized news recommendation app Toutiao.
The latest round follows a RMB400 million (US$58 million) investment UrWork received in May from Beijing Xingpai Group, a Chinese conglomerate engaged in the sports, real estate and investment businesses. Before that, UrWork completed a RMB400 million (US$58 million) round from Tianhong Asset Management Co., Ltd., a fund management firm affiliated with Ant Financial, in January.
In June 2016, UrWork raised a RMB300 million (US$46 million) pre-B round from Chinese commercial property developer Yintai Land and Zhongrong International Trust Co., Ltd. Three months prior, it completed a RMB200 million (US$31 million) financing round from Gopher Asset Management Co., Ltd. and others. Its earlier backers include Sequoia Capital China, Zhen Fund and Sinovation Ventures.
In April, UrWork agreed to merge with incubator and co-working space company New Space, in one of the first mergers in China's crowded co-working space sector.