No commissions? How Hong Kong’s office market will face a challenge from Singaporean leasing platform GorillaSpace
- Singapore’s GorillaSpace believes Hong Kong is ready for its Airbnb-like office and co-workspace leasing platform
- The platform enable ‘teams, start-ups and growing businesses’ to find the right work space without commission
Singaporean workspace platform GorillaSpace believes it can disrupt Hong Kong’s office leasing market by allowing landlords and tenants to transact directly with each other online, a model they say has been used successfully with co-working and office space in the city state.
The start-up, founded by a husband and wife team, recently won an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Japanese real estate developer Mitsubishi Estate.
It said the model had been well received by growing companies seeking flexible leasing options that break with the tradition of multi-year office leases.
“Companies want less [capital] upfront commitment and we help them see all available options,” said Ben Eckblad, co-founder and chief executive officer of GorillaSpace. “Tenants now have the choice of combining a long-term lease together with flexible space to house specialised teams or temporary additional headcount.”
In the first four months of this year, more than 1,000 corporate tenants such as AIA, Google and KPMG were able to find office space through GorillaSpace.
