Korea's Stonebridge invests in Indonesia's CoHive

The investment marks a first close for the company's Series B round and the unveiling of the rebrand. Kolon Investment, Stassets Investment, and H&CK Partners also contributed.

It will support an expansion of the core business domestically, including the launch of CoHive 101, a Jakarta facility that will serve to up to 2,700 members. A number of new initiates are also being planned, including a multiuse space that will allow start-ups to stage various gatherings and corporate events.

Fortune Sohn, a director at Stonebridge, said the company was now poised to transition from a simple co-working space operator into the largest community builder in Indonesia. "The founders have done a great job delivering significant value to both the tenants and the building landlords by enabling quality, flexible workspaces at reasonable prices and doubling the occupancy rates for buildings," he said in a statement.

East Ventures spun out EV Hive in May 2017 to give the platform access to a wider range of investors and open up collaboration possibilities with regional accelerators and start-up hubs. Insignia Ventures Partners committed $3.5 million in pre-Series A funding to the company later that year alongside East, Intudo Ventures, and Sinar Mas Digital Ventures (SMDV). CoHive's operations currently include 31 locations across four Indonesian cities renting to some 9,000 members.

SoftBank Ventures Korea co-led a $20 million Series A for the company last year with support from H&CK, Tigris Investment, Navis Corporation, STIC Investments, and Line Ventures. East, SMDV, Insignia, and Intudo also joined the round. At the time, the company flagged intentions to expand across the broader Southeast Asia region. Expansion targets specified in the Series B agenda are limited to Indonesian cities, however, including Surabaya, Bandung and Makassar.

The co-working space segment in Asia has grown quickly due to demand for more flexible real estate arrangements. Other activity in recent weeks includes an approximately $145 million round for China's Kr Space, and an investment of undisclosed size in Philippines-based KMC. Last year, JustCo, a Southeast Asia-based operator, formed a platform alongside Singapore's GIC Private and Frasers Property to invest $117 million in co-working spaces across Asia Pacific.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Early-stage
• Support services
• Indonesia
• Real estate