- Hailing from New York, WeWork already operates in 111 cities and 29 countries
- The startup’s IPO promises to be the second biggest of the year, just behind Uber’s public offer
The awaited IPO of the shared workspaces startup, WeWork, was confirmed on Wednesday morning. Based in New York, the company disclosed its financial reports to the regulating commission in the United States, aiming at raising $ 1 billion in public shares. Expectations are that the value of the offer will be three times higher.
WeWork will now be called We Co. bringing with it positive results and a bold growth, but its losses are also increasing – an effect that is observed in the trajectory of other market players with similar business models. With a revenue of $ 1.5 billion and losses of $ 904 million in the first semester of 2019, the company disclosed an eye-opening $ 1.9 billion in losses last year, contrasting with its revenue of $1.8 billion.
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But the startup also has important supporters – among them, the Japanese conglomerate Softbank, which has an investment portfolio that includes the names of Uber, Slack, and Rappi. With an estimated valuation of $ 47 billion, WeWork raised almost $ 8.5 billion in venture capital since its founding in 2010.
With a presence in 111 cities and 29 countries, the North American startup has 527 thousand subscriptions in its shared workspaces and plans to open more spaces in 169 venues, expecting to reach 255 million individuals, according to the information in the TechCrunch portal.
The company’s IPO, which should make its capital public in September, promises to be the second largest of the year; and as high as WeWork’s numbers, so are the uncertainties that investors have about the company’s profitability. Despite the technology investment, the startup operates in a traditional market – the real estate – and its business model depends on high amounts of capital to be profitable.
