Common Ground raises US$20mil to fuel regional expansion plans

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s co-working industry leader, Common Ground, has raised a US$20 million Series A funding to fuel its regional expansion plans, triple its number of venues in Malaysia and advance its technological interface by the year-end.

This is in line with the brand’s efforts to grow its roster of corporate clients and partners as well as community members with shared office spaces making further inroads into Malaysia’s commercial real estate.

Co-founded by Erman Akinci and Juhn Teo, Common Ground’s mission is to provide the ideal work environment through ergonomically-designed and visually-appealing space and with people who work there, surrounded by other like-minded business leaders, entrepreneurs, digital nomads, developers and designers.

Common Ground caters to corporate clients, SMEs, startups, freelancers and everything in between. Since the company’s market launch in 2017, it has opened seven venues across the Klang Valley with an average occupancy of 80%.

It is opening another eight venues by the end of December 2018 across Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor. Erman said: “We’re thrilled to have grown the co-working space market in Malaysia at an exponential rate as we keep our community members and partners at the forefront.

“With this investment, we aim to continue widening Common Ground’s offerings, as well as bolster our capabilities and plug the gaps in the co-working lifestyle ecosystem.

“We look forward to building our future and realising our vision of co-working and at the same time, undoubtedly locking ourselves in as Malaysia’s leading co-working space, creating the country’s largest co-working community.”

Common Ground also announced its regional expansion, with four venues scheduled to open later this year in the Philippines and a few more slated to open in Thailand. It will become the region’s fastest growing co-working space in South–East Asia, occupying an expected 500,000 sq footage across 15 venues in Malaysia and the Philippines by end-2018.

Another key area of focus is improving the customer experience for its over 1,000 members by enhancing its technology tools to provide a better service offering.

With this investment, we aim to continue widening Common Ground’s offerings.

Erman Akinci