OWspace
OWspace (单向空间) is a Beijing-based cultural creative institution operating an integrated platform of bookstores, long-form publishing (单读), humanities video interviews (十三邀 with Tencent), cultural salons, lifestyle products (OWSPACE), and themed F&B, targeting young Chinese intellectuals and cultural consumers across four cities.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersBeijing, China
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
OWspace firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- OWspace
- Legal name
- 北京单读科技有限公司
- Website
- https://owspace.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- OWspace (单向空间) is a Beijing-based cultural creative institution operating an integrated platform of bookstores, long-form publishing (单读), humanities video interviews (十三邀 with Tencent), cultural salons, lifestyle products (OWSPACE), and themed F&B, targeting young Chinese intellectuals and cultural consumers across four cities.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
OWspace industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cultural Creative Publishing and Retail
- NAICS
- Periodical Publishers (513120), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)
- SIC
- Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Retail-Hobby, Toy & Game Shops (5945)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Virtual Community Festivals & Cultural Events (Online Celebrations) (MPAGAOAK)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Arts, Crafts & Maker Fairs (MPAGAFAJ)
Keywords
Where OWspace is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Beijing
- HQ country
- China
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices4 records
Markets served
OWspace business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Bookstore Operations: Physical bookstore retail sales across multiple Beijing locations (爱琴海, 大悦城, 东风店), Aranya, Hangzhou, and Shanghai
- Media Content & Publications: 单读 bimonthly magazine publication, online media content
- Cultural Salon Events: 单谈 events - 600+ cultural salons with 1000+ guests over 9 years
- OWSPACE Cultural Creative Products: Cultural lifestyle products brand sold through Tmall, Youzan WeChat shop, and physical stores
- Coffee & Dining (单向咖啡, 单厨): Café and restaurant operations within physical cultural spaces
- IP Activities (单向街书店文学节, 单向历): Literary festival, awards, and calendar products
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
OWspace product offering
Product offeringCore offering
OWspace (单向空间) is a comprehensive cultural creative institution that operates physical bookstore/cafe cultural spaces, publishes the bimonthly 单读 (Dan Du) literary magazine, produces the 十三邀 (Thirteen Invitations) humanities video interview program with Tencent News, hosts the 单谈 (Dan Tan) cultural salon series, and sells OWSPACE cultural creative products, the 单向历 daily calendar, and themed dining experiences (单向咖啡, 单厨, 十三邀小酒馆). Founded in 2005 in Beijing, it serves as an integrated intellectual and lifestyle platform for young Chinese cultural consumers across multiple cities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- 单读 (Dan Du): Multi-media publishing brand focusing on non-fiction reporting, cultural commentary, and artistic works. Published bimonthly.
- 十三邀 (Thirteen Invitations)
- OWSPACE
- 单向咖啡 (One Way Coffee)
- 十三邀小酒馆
- 单向街书店文学节
- 单向街书店文学奖
- 单向历 (One Way Calendar)
Products and services
- 单读 (Dan Du) Bimonthly Magazine A bimonthly multi-media publication featuring bilingual literary and cultural content, covering non-fiction reporting, cultural criticism, thought pieces, and artistic works. Targeted at Chinese intellectuals, writers, and culturally-engaged young readers.
- 十三邀 (Thirteen Invitations) Video Interview Program A premium humanities deep-interview video program hosted by Xu Zhiyuan, co-produced with Tencent News, featuring 13 influential guests per season. Distributed on Tencent Video and Tencent News client, with over 1.8 billion total views and approximately 40 million average views per episode.
- OWSPACE Cultural Lifestyle Products Premium cultural creative merchandise brand under the philosophy 'Wisdom is the New Elegance,' creating intellectual lifestyle products for young consumers. Sold through Tmall, Taobao, Youzan WeChat store, and physical bookstore locations.
- 单向咖啡 (One Way Coffee) Coffee shop and café service integrated within OWspace's physical cultural spaces, offering beverages alongside the intellectual bookstore environment.
- 单厨 (Dan Chu) Themed Restaurant A themed restaurant offering creative cuisine and beverages inspired by literary works such as 'Sunstone,' 'Summer Days,' 'The 100% Girl,' and 'Lolita,' creating an immersive dining experience for readers and intellectuals.
- 单向历 (One Way Calendar) A literary-themed daily calendar product featuring cultural quotes and literary content, part of the OWSPACE cultural creative merchandise line sold through online and offline channels.
- 单谈 (Dan Tan) Cultural Salon Series A cultural salon event series hosting intellectual dialogues with prominent cultural figures including Mo Yan (莫言), Chen Danqing (陈丹青), Bai Xianyong (白先勇), Yan Geling (严歌苓), and others. Over 600 events held in 9 years with 1,000+ guests and 100,000+ attendees.
- 十三邀小酒馆 (Thirteen Invitations Bar) A themed bar extending the 十三邀 intellectual cultural experience into a nightlife and social setting.
Quantifiable outcome
- 18亿+ total video views for 十三邀 program
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use OWspace
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
OWspace technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
OWspace partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- 腾讯新闻 (Tencent News)coreCo-production partnership for 十三邀 (Thirteen Invitations) - one of China's most influential deep interview programs. Tencent News co-produces with 单向空间, with content distributed on Tencent Video and Tencent News client. The program has achieved 18亿+ total views with 4000万 average views per episode, making it the most impactful cultural interview show in China.
Scale indicators4 records
OWspace competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Librairie Avant-Garde (先锋书店): Influential independent Chinese bookstore known for intellectual curation, signature architectural spaces, and cultural-event programming. Comparable to OWspace in its intellectual/independent positioning and event-driven community engagement, with similar premium bookstore experience focus.
- Yan Ji You (言几又): Chinese lifestyle bookstore chain that integrated books, café, retail, and cultural events before scaling rapidly. Directly comparable to OWspace in bookstore-plus-experiential-retail model, though its rapid expansion and subsequent contraction highlight sector risks OWspace also faces.
- Zhongshuge Bookstore (钟书阁): Design-forward Chinese bookstore chain famous for striking architectural interiors and Instagram-driven cultural tourism. Comparable to OWspace as a premium experiential bookstore brand in China, though more retail-design focused and less oriented toward original publishing.
- Eslite (誠品生活): Taiwan-headquartered cultural retail and bookstore chain that combines physical bookstores with curated lifestyle goods, café concepts, and event programming. Highly comparable to OWspace in its integrated bookstore-plus-cultural-venue format, premium intellectual positioning, and event-driven community engagement.
- Sisyphus Bookstore (西西弗书店): Large-scale Chinese bookstore chain with hundreds of locations nationwide, integrating bookstores with vector coffee and lifestyle products. Directly comparable to OWspace's bookstore-café-retail format, though operating at much larger scale and with a more mass-market positioning.
- Page One: Beijing-founded bookstore chain with locations across China and Southeast Asia, blending physical bookstore retail with lifestyle and design merchandise. Comparable to OWspace in physical bookstore operations and lifestyle-product retail, though with less emphasis on original content publishing.
Emerging players
- Single Planet / iWeekly: Modern Chinese lifestyle and culture magazine publishers targeting urban intellectual audiences. Comparable to OWspace in premium print/media publishing for the Chinese cultural consumer, with overlap in lifestyle and ideas-oriented content.
- Noise Floor / T Magazine China: Premium culture and lifestyle publications serving intellectually engaged urban readers, with parallel editorial positioning to OWspace's Dandu bimonthly. Comparable as a niche premium publisher targeting the same cultural-elite readership with magazine-format cultural journalism.
Broad incumbents
- Tencent Penguin Guide / Tencent News Culture: Tencent's news and culture verticals, including the Tencent News platform that co-produces Thirteen Invitations with OWspace. Comparable as a large incumbent producing premium Chinese cultural and intellectual interview content, though operating at vastly larger scale as part of a major tech conglomerate.
Regional players
- Aranya (阿那亚): Premium Chinese lifestyle and cultural community brand centered on a Beidaihe resort, known for hosting literary festivals, theater, and intellectual events. Comparable to OWspace as a host venue and partner for cultural festivals (OWspace operates a physical space within Aranya), with similar premium positioning around intellectual lifestyle experiences.
Market position
Customer concentration
OWspace social profiles
Digital presenceOWspace financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
OWspace leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
OWspace funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
OWspace M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about OWspace
What does OWspace do?
OWspace (单向空间) is a comprehensive cultural creative institution that operates physical bookstore/cafe cultural spaces, publishes the bimonthly 单读 (Dan Du) literary magazine, produces the 十三邀 (Thirteen Invitations) humanities video interview program with Tencent News, hosts the 单谈 (Dan Tan) cultural salon series, and sells OWSPACE cultural creative products, the 单向历 daily calendar, and themed dining experiences (单向咖啡, 单厨, 十三邀小酒馆). Founded in 2005 in Beijing, it serves as an integrated intellectual and lifestyle platform for young Chinese cultural consumers across multiple cities.
Is OWspace a public or private company?
OWspace is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was OWspace founded?
OWspace was founded in 2005. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is OWspace based?
OWspace is headquartered in Beijing, China, in the Asia region.
How does OWspace make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Bookstore Operations are the primary driver. The others are media Content & Publications, cultural Salon Events, OWSPACE Cultural Creative Products, coffee & Dining (单向咖啡, 单厨) and IP Activities (单向街书店文学节, 单向历).
Who are OWspace's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Librairie Avant-Garde (先锋书店), Yan Ji You (言几又), Zhongshuge Bookstore (钟书阁), Eslite (誠品生活), Sisyphus Bookstore (西西弗书店) and Page One. Emerging players are Single Planet / iWeekly and Noise Floor / T Magazine China. Tencent Penguin Guide / Tencent News Culture is listed as a broad incumbent. Aranya (阿那亚) is listed as a regional player.
Does OWspace have an API?
No public API is recorded for OWspace.
What industry is OWspace in?
OWspace's product category is Cultural Creative Publishing and Retail. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAGAOAK, Virtual Community Festivals & Cultural Events (Online Celebrations), with a secondary code of MPAGAFAJ, Arts, Crafts & Maker Fairs. Its NAICS code is 513120 and its SIC code is 2721.