Common Ground targets startups in new ‘digital park’ coworking space

Malaysia-based coworking space operator Common Ground on Wednesday said it is targeting startup firms in its new location in Taguig City, amid the rise of flexible workspaces in the Philippines.

“We have investors from startups who are exploring BGC (Bonifacio Global City) but found BGC to be too expensive, so now, they have a potential solution here,” Common Ground Country Manager Roegan Taron told reporters in a media briefing.

“We want to have a more structured way of supporting startups in the country,” he added.

The Common Ground Digital Park McKinley Hill is the company’s pilot partnership with Megaworld Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. (MREIT, Inc.).

“I think the reason why it would be completely called a Digital Park is, first, we want to be a supporter for individual startups,” Mr. Taron said. “Startups need a physical space where they can get networked and gather better collaboration.”

The new workspace offers 430 seats across its 1,800-square-meter office space in the Intellectual Property Center building in Taguig City. Of which, over 300 seats are available for private offices, 50 for hot desks, and 19 for fixed desks.

Hot desk, priced from P5,000 per month, includes one hour meeting room booking and P200 in printing or photocopy credit. Members can also access the space from 9 AM to 6 PM on weekdays.

“With the market of Common Ground, these are mostly the startup founders, business owners, and different international organizations,” Mr. Taron said.

Fixed desks, priced from P12,000 monthly, can also book the meeting room for an hour and receive P350 in printing or photocopy credit. However, members will have 24/7 access to the space, a business address, and mail handling.

“It’s perfect for companies who don’t have a budget for an office space yet, but they have a couple of employees that they want to be in this space.”

For a private office priced at P16,000 monthly, it includes one hour of meeting room booking per seat, P500 in printing or photocopy credit, 24/7 access to the space, a business address, mail handling, and a locked office.

The facility also features call booths, a pantry, event spaces, meeting rooms, and other business amenities, such as high-speed internet, complimentary drinks, daily cleaning services, stylish interiors, and business-class printers, copiers, and scanners.

A cafe will open next month as an additional perk for all its members. “I think we’re one of the very few workspace operators that do our own cafe…this is actually more of an amenity rather than revenue to the company,” said Mr. Taron.

All memberships can be used at more than 50 Flexi Group locations across the Asia-Pacific region, including the Hive and The Cluster.

Apart from work amenities, the company plans to host weekly community events for startups and connect them with growth opportunities in the region.

“We would be basically tailor-fit specific programs and events that would help the startup community here in the country to prosper more,” Mr. Taron told BusinessWorld in an interview.

“If there’s a startup located in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, or our other APAC locations that wishes to explore the Philippines for expansion, we want this to be the landing of those startups,” he added. “We can make the connection happen.”

Although it is scheduled to officially launch on August 11, 7% of the Digital Park’s overall seats have already been occupied by mostly tech startups.

Last year, MREIT said that other Digital Parks will be rolled out in other Megaworld townships, including Eastwood City in Quezon City, Iloilo Business Park in Iloilo City, Southwoods City in Biñan, Laguna, and Capital Town in San Fernando, Pampanga. — Almira Louise S. Martinez