Zigbang Enters Global Virtual Office Market... Establishes U.S. Corporation

Zigbang employees are commuting to the PropTech Tower office building.

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Kim] Zigbang announced on the 19th that it will globally launch the virtual office "Soma" on the 20th.

Soma is a new brand upgraded and launched globally based on Zigbang's domestically first self-developed virtual office "Metapolis" last year. To target the global virtual office market with Soma, Zigbang established the U.S. corporation "Soma Development Company" on the 26th of last month.

Zigbang stated, "We are launching Soma globally to present a new standard for future work environments by combining the advantages of offline work and online remote work."

Zigbang eliminated offline offices and adopted full remote work in February last year, and in July of the same year, moved its headquarters to the self-developed virtual office "Metapolis." Over the following 10 months, it verified the efficiency and productivity of face-to-face remote work. Currently, more than 20 companies including Zigbang, Ourhome, and AIF are tenants in Metapolis, with about 2,000 people logging in daily. From the 20th, Metapolis tenants will gradually move to Soma.

The communication environment similar to offline is a unique advantage of Soma. To meet colleagues, avatars must move directly, and conversations take place while seeing actual faces. There are no chat or teleportation functions. When avatars are close, the other person's face and voice are automatically visible. When they move apart, they become invisible, just like in an offline environment. By encouraging direct face-to-face interaction and conversation with colleagues in the same office, Soma enables everyday conversations and networking that were impossible in existing remote work environments.

With no spatial constraints, Soma tenants can also recruit global talent. By simply pressing a button, they can clock in and out within 30 seconds from anywhere, allowing people of any nationality to work, communicate, and feel a sense of belonging in Soma.

Soma consists of the 30-story office building "Proptech Tower," the "42 Convention Center" with six halls seating 500 people for large-scale events, and the shared lounge "The Hub." Zigbang expressed its ambition to expand Soma into a metaverse business district where companies worldwide can be located.

Soma will sequentially release the Android version worldwide starting on the 20th, followed by iOS and PC versions. It supports 12 languages including English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Russian, and Korean. Anyone can explore the shared spaces such as The Hub lounge, the first-floor lobby of Proptech Tower, and the building exterior without any special verification process by simply signing up.

Seongwoo Ahn, CEO of Zigbang, said, "In the future, companies that provide work environments optimized for individuals' changed lifestyles will be able to attract excellent global talent. Through Soma, we will write a global success story for Korea's proptech unicorn."