How a merger of two Jakarta rivals became Indonesia's largest network of premium coworking and flexible office space.
GoWork rents space by the desk, the room and the address. In practical terms that means a freelancer can buy a single seat for the afternoon, a startup can lease an enclosed private office, and a company with no physical presence in Indonesia can pay for a prestigious Jakarta business address with mail handling attached. It is the same square footage, packaged and priced for very different customers - and it sits, unusually, inside some of the country's most expensive shopping malls.
The company traces to 2016, when Vanessa Hendriadi launched a coworking space called Rework, drawing on a background in her family's real estate business. Around the same time, Richard Lim and Donny Tandianus were building a separate startup called GoWork. The two were competitors - and, as it turned out, old acquaintances. In 2018 they merged into a single company, briefly branded Go-Rework and then simply GoWork, with Hendriadi as CEO, Lim as CFO and Chief of Real Estate, and Tandianus as CTO.
The timing was pointed. Just as global coworking icon WeWork was heading toward a collapsed IPO in 2019, GoWork was signing leases and expanding across Indonesian cities. The company's read on the market was that flexible workspace is a local game, decided by location and hospitality rather than by a single global brand.
"The supply of coworking space in Jakarta is less than 1% of total office space - there is still a remarkable amount of growth ahead."
— The market thesis behind GoWork's expansionUnderneath the brand is a space-as-a-service model. GoWork leases or manages real estate, fits it out, and monetizes it through tiered memberships and bookings: open hot desks, dedicated desks, enclosed private offices, virtual office subscriptions, hourly meeting rooms and event venues. Around that core it layers business services - company incorporation, mail handling, community events - and a mobile app that lets members find a location and book a desk or room from their phones.
The customer base runs wider than the freelancer-with-a-laptop stereotype. GoWork's clients have included large enterprises such as Gojek, Samsung, Huawei and AirAsia, alongside the startups and small businesses that fill its shared floors.
Open, flexible seating in a shared workspace for individuals and small teams.
A permanent, assigned desk inside a shared space for you or your team.
Enclosed, dedicated office space with shared-building amenities.
A prime Indonesian business address with mail handling - no physical desk required.
Bookable private rooms for meetings, interviews and presentations.
Flexible venues for workshops, launches and community gatherings.
Custom, larger-scale managed office deployments for corporate clients.
A fully equipped studio for high-quality audio and podcast recording.
iOS and Android app to browse locations, book space and manage membership.
Coworking is a small slice of Jakarta's overall office supply - which GoWork frames as headroom rather than a ceiling. The illustrative split below shows why the company keeps opening locations even after global peers pulled back.
Figures illustrative, based on GoWork's stated market thesis. Coworking share bar exaggerated for legibility.
GoWork is the only coworking operator present across Jakarta's three most premium malls - Pacific Place, Plaza Indonesia and Senayan City - putting members in prestige addresses rather than cheap office parks.
Hot desk, dedicated desk, private, virtual and enterprise office are all sold from the same footprint - segmentation built into the floor plan, not just the marketing.
Company incorporation, mail handling and community events deepen the relationship once a member is inside, turning desk rental into a broader business relationship.
Rather than out-spending a rival, Rework and GoWork merged in 2018 - combining three founders and two networks into a single market leader.
Vanessa Hendriadi launches Rework, a Jakarta coworking space, drawing on family real estate experience.
Richard Lim and Donny Tandianus start the original GoWork coworking startup.
500 Startups' Durians fund backs the business and a mobile booking app arrives.
Rework and GoWork combine into Go-Rework, uniting three founders under one brand.
Closes roughly $9.9M-$10M led by Gobi Partners and The Paradise Group.
Grows across Indonesian cities as WeWork stumbles, and raises additional capital.
Marks '6ixtraordinary' as Indonesia's largest premium workspace network across five cities.
| Round | Amount | Date | Key Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | Undisclosed | 2017 | 500 Startups (500 Durians) |
| Series A | ~$9.9-10M | Oct 2018 | Gobi Partners, The Paradise Group, Mahanusa Capital |
| Series B | Undisclosed | 2020 | Convergence Ventures, ATM Capital, Discovery Nusantara Capital |
Founded Rework in 2016 and leads GoWork as CEO after the merger.
Co-founder of the original GoWork; oversees finance and property.
Co-founder of the original GoWork; leads technology and the app.
GoWork serves freelancers, remote workers, startups, SMEs and enterprises - corporate names such as Gojek, Samsung, Huawei and AirAsia have used its space alongside the small teams filling its shared floors. In a market that has included WeWork, CoHive (formerly EV Hive), Cocowork and Regus/IWG, GoWork's differentiation is its premium mall locations and a product mix spanning single desks to managed enterprise offices.
GoWork operates premium coworking and flexible office spaces in Indonesia, renting hot desks, dedicated desks, private offices, virtual offices, meeting rooms and event spaces to individuals and businesses.
It traces to Rework, founded by Vanessa Hendriadi in 2016, and the original GoWork founded by Richard Lim and Donny Tandianus. The two merged in 2018, with Hendriadi as CEO.
GoWork has 25+ locations across Jakarta, Tangerang, Bali, Surabaya and Medan, including sites inside premium malls such as Pacific Place, Plaza Indonesia and Senayan City.
GoWork has raised roughly $13M in total, including a ~$9.9-10M Series A in 2018 led by Gobi Partners and The Paradise Group, plus a later round in 2020.
A subscription giving a business a prime Indonesian address with mail handling and reception, without renting physical desk space - useful for SMEs and remote teams.