SoftBank invests $4.4 billion in WeWork
August 25, 2017 | Bobby Burch
Global coworking giant WeWork recently raked in a massive investment from SoftBank.
The Tokyo-based conglomerate and its $93-billion Vision Fund has injected $4.4 billion into WeWork, which has 23 coworking spaces in the United States — including a shared, 40,000- square-foot workspace in Kansas City in the Crossroads Arts District — and more than 27 international offices.
“WeWork is leveraging the latest technologies and its own proprietary data systems to radically transform the way people work,” SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said in a release. “(WeWork CEO Adam Neumann’s) unique vision and talented team have created a sharing platform that offers maximum flexibility and opportunity to creators of all types, from young entrepreneurs to large multinational companies. We are thrilled to support WeWork as they expand across markets and geographies and unleash a new wave of productivity around the world.”
Of the $4.4 billion investment, $3 billion will go toward WeWork’s parent company via a primary investment in new shares and a secondary purchase of existing shares, SoftBank said in a release. The remaining $1.4 billion will fund WeWork’s expansion in China, Japan and Southeast Asia and Korea.
WeWork was valued at $21 billion in July. The firm currently has about 150,000 members across the world.
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Neighborhood smart cans help Kansas Citians save the planet from their kitchens
Newly introduced composting technology is already turning new ground in Kansas City, Kristan Chamberlain said, with more solar-powered compost cans arriving later this spring across the metro’s urban landscape. Her social venture, KC Can Compost, installed three of the devices in October — free to use for KCMO residents wanting to deposit their soil-making food…
Voodoo Volleyball bounces back in OP: Father-daughter duo doubles as new venture’s setters
Quinn Austin put several sports to the test as a preteen — racing from basketball practice to softball to volleyball. But she latched on to just one. “Volleyball. It was my sport. Everyone was having a good time,” she said. “We just loved the cheers — a cheer when we got a hit, a cheer…
Black farmers are losing ground in the fight to feed their communities, advocates say
More than a century of systemic land dispossession and discriminatory practices has left Black farmers with less than 0.6 percent of U.S. farmland — less than a third of the 16 million acres they operated in 1910, according to local urban farming advocates. They gathered Tuesday at Independence Boulevard Christian Church to confront this history…
Cracking egg-flation: How farmers, substitute ingredients help restaurants mitigate price spike
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Kansas City PBS/Flatland, a member of the Kansas City Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, The Kansas City Beacon, and Missouri Business Alert. Click here to read the original story. Whether ordering an omelet, French toast, chicken n’ biscuits, chilaquiles, corned beef hash…