At a time when China’s zero-COVID policy continues to disrupt offline work and face-to-face interactions, Dominic Penaloza, the former head of innovation and technology at WeWork China, is introducing a daring idea — on-demand work booths placed in public places — and has successfully raised capital for the company.
Penaloza named his new company Peace in the hopes of improving the mental health of those who use the company’s quiet, privacy-first space instead of crowded offices and noisy cafes. This week, Peace announced a seven-figure funding round from a group of business partners and entrepreneurs. Penaloza’s ongoing experiment with flexible work has resulted in Peace. In 2019, the executive led an internal project at WeWork China to offer pay-as-you-go workspaces. A year later, he founded his own proptech-focused startup studio, which incubated a similar on-demand workspace service, but this time with the help of third-party landlords.
