Kr Space, a Chinese co-working space spinoff from technology, media and entrepreneurial services company 36Kr, has completed a new financing round of RMB600 million (US$92 million).
Venture capital firms IDG Capital, Gobi Partners, Unity Ventures, Prometheus Capital, a fund established by Chinese tycoon Wang Jianlin’s son Wang Sicong, China Minsheng Investment Management and Colony New Yangtze Fund participated in the round, according to an article published on 36Kr’s own media portal, 36Kr.com.
It is unclear how 36Kr is valued in the round. The company did not respond immediately to an inquiry from China Money Network to confirm the information.
Competition in the Chinese co-working market is intensifying. Last July, WeWork, the global industry leader, established a new unit named WeWork China, which received a US$500 million funding round from Hony Capital and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp.
Some local Chinese co-working space operators have also raised funding and expanded rapidly. Last August, Beijing-based UrWork completed a RMB1.2 billion (US$179 million) pre-C financing round from a group of Chinese investors, including property developer Beijing Capital Land Ltd., conglomerate Beijing Xingpai Group and Beijing Aikang Group. Later in December, Shanghai-based naked Hub said in an interview with Hong Kong media that it is in the process of raising a series C round, which will value the start-up as high as US$1 billion.
Kr Space was spun out from Ant Financial-backed 36Kr as an independent entity in January 2016. It currently operates 30 co-working spaces in eight cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu and Tianjin.
The firm previously raised a RMB100 million (US$15 million) funding round from IDG last September. One year prior, it received a RMB200 million (US$30 million) round from Prometheus Capital and IDG. Kr Space plans to use the latest proceeds to set up more co-working spaces in first tier cities in China.
