GoWork wants to use the money to expand aggressively and triple its footprint over the next year

GoWork, an Indonesian co-working startup, announced today it has raised S$13.8 million (US$10 million) to facilitate its expansion throughout the country.

The round was led by Gobi Partners and The Paradise Group, a property developer.

Richard Lim, a Co-founder of GoWork, told e27 that the company will focus on expanding to Bali, Surabaya and other major cities in Indonesia.

GoWork plans to expand aggressively and triple its footprint in the next 12-18 months. The company does not have immediate plans for an international push. It wants to have 100,000 square metres of space by 2020.

Co-working has become and incredibly crowded space in Southeast Asia and GoWork is focussing on the age-old adage of the real estate industry to stand apart : Location, location, location.

“We focus on the prime malls and office buildings in Indonesia. A very unique characteristic of Jakarta is the traffic, it is a traffic-constrained city, which means that having the most prime locations is a key competitive advantage. So once you have secured those locations — which he have — any new entrants or existing players in the market, they are locked out of those areas,” Lim said.

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The second point Lim highlighted was the decision to champion a work-and-play philosophy. This is why GoWork has inked a strategic partnership with Ismaya Group, an Indonesian F&B and lifestyle brand. GoWork tenants under the ‘Gold Member’ status get special access to Ismaya Group properties and events.

When asked if GoWork is considering acquisitions as a means to expand or add technology, Co-founder Vanessa Hendriadi Li said GoWork is currently building its own proprietary technology stack.

“It was an early commitment from us to make sure that everything we do is empowered by technology, or else it would be just another real estate play…We are doing quite well with our strategy so if we are talking about acquisition of tech companies, that is not our focus,” she said.

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GoWork says it has over 8,000 members representing around 600 companies. It claims to have a near-100 per cent occupancy rate.

GoWork will face direct competition from the international brand WeWork, which has begun to aggressively expand in Jakarta.

GoWork is a rebrand of the company Go-Rework, which was formed in February of 2018 after the merger of two co-working spaces named GoWork and ReWork.

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