From renting out tables in co-working spaces, UR Work aims to become a networking platform
Company signs long-term leases with office owners to remain asset-light

The Chinese government’s call for “massive entrepreneurship” has developers smelling business opportunities.
A new business to “rent tables” to young and budget-conscious entrepreneurs has sprung up on mainland, but its management says its ambitions go far beyond that.
In December, UR Work opened a 4,000 square metre, 500-seat “worker space” – 80 per cent of which was pre-leased – in the Shanghai Caohejing Hi-Tech Park. It was its third “worker space” in Shanghai.
UR Work was founded in April last year by Mao Daqing, who made headlines in 2014 with he cautioned about the risk of a bubble risk in the mainland property market when he was vice-chairman of China’s largest developer, Vanke. He left Vanke last year.
“UR Work has expanded at an unexpected speed, opening 11 spaces and signing more than 30 projects with 15 cities in less than one year,” Brian Liu, the company’s chief financial officer, said.
“This is a brand new business. We offer co-working spaces to small and micro enterprises. You may see three companies working on one long table.”
