JustCo is a Singaporean company that provides coworking workspaces for individuals and companies. Headquartered in Singapore, JustCo was founded in 2011 by Kong Wan Sing, its current CEO, alongside co-founders Liu Lu and Kong Wan Long,[1] as a response to increasing demand for flexible workspaces.[2] Initially focused on Singapore, the company expanded to provide office space in cities across eight countries in the Asia-Pacific region: Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, China, South Korea and Taiwan.
History
JustCo was founded in Singapore in 2011 by property developer and businessman Kong Wan Sing.[3] Kong had originally started a finance firm in Boston in 1998 after graduating from the Stern School of Business. He then worked in the real estate branch of Sing Long Group, a Malaysia-based company owned by his family.[4]
Kong moved to Singapore where he worked for Mapletree Investments prior to starting JustCo. By 2015, it was the largest coworking space in Asia[4] and rebranded to JustCo.[5]
In 2018, JustCo expanded overseas to Thailand, opening four coworking spaces in Bangkok after an investment by Thai developer Sansiri,[6][3] followed by an expansion into Indonesia in mid-2018.[7] Expansion into other markets, including Taiwan, Australia and South Korea, was supported by investments by Singaporean wealth fund GIC and real estate company Frasers Property.[8][9] The same year, it opened its fourth property in Seoul, a 16-storey tower in Gangnam District which was the largest property leased by the company at that time, and the first time it had leased an entire building.[10][11]
In December 2019, the company secured a partnership with Japanese construction and real estate firm Daito Trust to develop office spaces in Japan[12] By April 2020, JustCo serviced 1,400 companies in Singapore across 19 locations, as well as 42 centres in Asia and Australia.[13][14]
JustCo redesigns the interiors of large office spaces and buildings, subletting them to companies and individuals upon completion.[17] All locations feature common areas such as event spaces, meeting rooms and cafe.[4] Large-scale corporations make up more than half of clients, compared to traditional coworking tenants who target startups or freelancers.[9][17] All JustCo locations feature common areas, such as event spaces, meeting rooms and café.[4] In 2018 the company opened its first curated business community space, the Verizon Innovation Community in Singapore, formed with Verizon Communications as a space for digital and technology companies.[18]
In 2019, JustCo created a start-up incubation programme called JustCo Labs, developed as a partnership with Trive Ventures.[19]
JustCo at The Centrepoint office in Singapore was opened in 2020 and is the first location to offer pay-per-minute space for members of the public to rent.[14] The JustCo app allows members to access any office globally, to book spaces or resources.[20] In June 2020, the company partnered with NewCampus to offer a business networking and workshop service entitled JustCo Campus.[21]
In December 2020, the company launched the Digital Future of Work Platform, allowing users to book office space in JustCo centres and shared office locations not a part of the JustCo company. The service incorporates the AI SixSense, which monitors office traffic, allowing users to have real-time information on crowdedness of spaces, to ensure social distance in office spaces.[22]
