FastFive secures near $30 mn; pushes to become office solutions provider

South Korea's co-working space provider FastFive Co. announced on June 11 that it has raised 30 billion won ($27 million) from seven investors, bringing the company's total amount raised to exceed 100 billion won. 

The proceeds will be used to transition the company into an office platform operator. FastFive plans to diversify its product offerings, launch an aggressive branch expansion and set up a marketplace for its users. 

Participants of the latest investment round included TS Investment, Korea Investment Partners and Atinum Investment, alongside newcomers such as Aarden Partners, CL Partners, Kakao Investment and the Korea Development Bank. 

The company had increased its target investment amount to reflect investors' expectations of its sound growth and performance.

Since its inception in 2015, FastFive has been logging an annual average growth rate of 153%. In 2020, the company posted revenue of 60.7 billion won, up 43% from the previous year. Also, it has maintained a low 3% vacancy rate across its shared offices.

Last year, FastFive announced plans to evolve into a platform operator that offers office solutions as well as connecting building owners with corporate clients to create a supply and demand scheme. 

Instead of signing lease contracts with building owners, FastFive now partners with them to share both the risk and the profit. This has allowed the company to expand aggressively without large capital expenditure. FastFive currently operates 36 branches in Seoul. 

Also, FastFive has been diversifying its business portfolio to handle all types of office space-related demands such as creating the "five spot," which targets single-desk users, as well as office solutions that handle over 100 users.

"We're evolving into an office solutions platform that fulfills the demands of all types of customers. Our goal is to shift the asset owner-oriented real estate market into a user demand-oriented market," said Kim Dae-il, the chief executive of FastFive.

After scrapping its plans to get listed last year, FastFive is expected to revisit its initial public offering plans once the company solidifies its footing as an office solutions platform.

Write to A-young Yoon at youngmoney@hankyung.com
Danbee Lee edited this article.