Campfire Collaborative Spaces, a Hong Kong-based co-working community, has today raised US$6 million in a seed investment round from several undisclosed angel investors in the real estate industry.
With the fresh funding, the startup plans to launch three new co-working sites by July 2017, in addition to introducing two co-living spaces that would allow entrepreneurs to live and work together. The startup will also be on a lookout for opportunities to expand regionally in the Asia-Pacific.
At present, Campfire has so far opened two co-working spaces in Hong Kong. Its first space located in Kennedy Town is designed for tech startups while its second space located in Wong Chuk Hang is geared towards high fashion businesses.
“Campfire was conceptualised as a place where like-minded entrepreneurs can gather to share their experiences and work together,” said Albert Fung, the co-founder and Director of Campfire. “Being industry-focused, our centers stand out in allowing for more relevant networking opportunities, events, and collaborations.”
But the demand for co-working spaces solves yet another more realistic problem in the country – which tops the list for the world’s most expensive real estate – with an estimated 2 percent of office vacancy. This creates an obstacle for young startups searching for low-cost offices in Hong Kong.
Addressing the need, there has been a rise of co-working spaces, with more than 120 in operation as of date, creating a high barrier entry to the co-working space.
Then again, despite the abundance of co-working startups in Hong Kong, most have limited impact in the industry. Campfire expects to be the largest combined co-working space in the country with the addition of its five new spaces by the end of this year.
“Our goal is to help business people to achieve their passions through hard work and perseverance. We understand that finding office spaces in Hong Kong can be tough and a time-consuming process,” says Wang Tse, co-founder and director of Campfire.
Campfire was co-founded by three entrepreneurs – Albert Fung, Wang Tse and Brian Fung. The company is also considering raising more money to scale rapidly and launch more differentiated industry-focused centers to help more businesses in Hong Kong and Asia.
By Vivian Foo, VCNewsNetwork
