Co-working startup Spacemob closes region's largest seed funding round at US$5.5m

A SINGAPORE-BASED co-working startup concept, Spacemob, has just closed South-east Asia's largest seed funding round at US$5.5 million, it said in a Wednesday release.

The funding was led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia, the venture arm of Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings, it said.

Other primary investors are angels in the property and hospitality industries and Alpha JWC Ventures out of Indonesia.

Spacemob approaches the co-working sector with a new business model and by developing proprietary technology to benefit members. It works like a hotel operator, thus remaining asset-light in this space.

Last month, Spacemob launched its first 15,000-sq-ft co-working space in Singapore's Claymore Hill.

It currently counts entrepreneurs, freelancers and multi-national corporations such as General Assembly and Big Sync (a Unilever company) as its clients. The business is already operationally profitable just a month and a half after its launch, said the release.

Another two Spacemob sites are due to open in Q1 2017 in Singapore and Jakarta. The company plans to have 30 Spacemob sites across Asia-Pacific within the next 36 months.

Said founder and chief executive officer Turochas Fuad: "This is significant because it proves that the Spacemob concept has legs. Our aim is to change the game by disrupting the space industry."