Co-working space provider WeWork is set to be the latest tech-related startup to go public, announcing today that it has filed its S-1 initial public offering paperwork.

The filing was confidentially filed back in December, and WeWork apparently changed its name to The We Company Inc. in January. The name change is said to reflect an expansion beyond commercial office spaces.

Founded in 2010, WeWork is the world’s largest co-working space provider, though the company describes itself as a “platform for creators” in that it provides the space, community and services needed for startups and others to “create [their] life’s work.”

As an office space provider for tech companies with a layer of technology managing it all on top, WeWork comes into its IPO as one of the most highly funded startups in history. As of a round of $4.4 billion from Japanese telco giant SoftBank Group in August 2017, it had raised $9.85 billion, but according to Crunchbase it has raised even more money since then.

At its core, WeWork is essentially a real estate play that buys buildings that tech companies and startups can use for office space. Some of the company’s biggest customers include Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. and Citrix Systems Inc.

The size of WeWork’s spread is remarkable. WeWork offers office space 280 locations spread across 86 cities in 32 countries.

Although primarily a real estate play, WeWork does share another tech startup aspect coming into its IPO: It’s losing a lot of money. According to figures quoted by CNBC, the company had a net loss of $1.9 billion on $1.8 billion in revenue in 2018, and a net loss of $933 million on $866 million in revenue in 2017.

It’s hard to compare WeWork to other tech companies, but it goes public at the same time as several other unicorns, as startups with a valuation over $1 billion are called, have gone through the IPO process this year. Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc. has performed dismally since its IPO March 28 but others, including Pinterest Inc. and Zoom Video Communications Inc., have found willing investors.

Although it’s a completely different company in its structure and offering, the closest startup to WeWork in terms of sheer size is Uber Technologies Inc. which is set to go public in early May.

Photo: Pixabay