Jackal Pan/Reuters
- WeWork’s biggest Chinese rival is planning to go public in the US by the end of this year, according to Reuters.
- Ucommune filed a confidential IPO prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in late September, Reuters said, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
- The Beijing-based shared workspace provider, which was valued at $2.6 billion about a year ago, has chosen Citigroup and Credit Suisse to lead its listing and has given Bank of America a minor role on the deal, Reuters reported.
- The news comes after WeWork scrapped its IPO last month after an investor backlash, and accepted a $9.5 billion rescue deal from Softbank that gave the Japanese conglomerate control of the startup.
- Read more of Business Insider’s WeWork coverage here.
WeWork’s IPO trainwreck doesn’t seem to have scared its rivals. Ucommune, China’s largest workspace provider, is planning to go public in the US by the end of this year, according to Reuters.
Ucommune filed a confidential IPO prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in late September, Reuters said, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter. China’s largest workspace provider, which was valued at $2.6 billion about a year ago, has chosen Citigroup and Credit Suisse to oversee its listing and given Bank of America a minor role on the deal, Reuters reported.
The news comes after WeWork scrapped its IPO last month after investors balked at its business model, mounting losses, corporate governance, and controversial cofounder and then-CEO Adam Neumann. WeWork accepted a $9.5 billion rescue deal from Softbank this week that valued it at about $8 billion — a sharp drop from its $47 billion valuation in January — and granted the Japanese conglomerate control of the startup.
Ucommune is holding preliminary meetings with potential investors and their feedback will determine whether it pursues a listing, Reuters said. The Beijing-based company — which has shared workspaces in 200 locations across 37 cities, according to its website — was eyeing an IPO next year with the goal of raising as much as $200 million, Bloomberg reported in July.
Founded in 2015 as UrWork, Ucommune changed its name following a lawsuit from WeWork, Bloomberg said.
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