WeWork Cos, a global player that offers co-work spaces, said it will invest $500 million to expand its business and staff in China.

It entered the China market in July last year and currently offers eight co-work spaces spread across Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It operates the spaces on rented real estate. Another three such spaces are in the pipeline.

Adam Neumann, CEO of WeWork, said the fresh investment will be used to set up a new firm called WeWork China in partnership with Hony Capital, a local private equity firm, and SoftBank Group of Japan.