New York-based WeWork Cos. is in talks to receive a "multibillion-dollar investment" from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp., a transaction that could value the coworking giant at US$35 billion to US$40 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.

The potential transaction would make WeWork the second-most-valuable privately held U.S. startup backed by venture capital, after Uber Technologies Inc., according to the publication.

The new funding round would be led by SoftBank's technology-focused investment vehicle, SoftBank Vision Fund, the unnamed sources told the publication. The fund's head, Rajeev Misra, recently said at a tech conference in London that WeWork was seeking to raise funds at a US$35 billion valuation, a comment that was confirmed by a SoftBank spokesman with the Journal.

WeWork's valuation was pegged at US$20 billion in August 2017, when WeWork secured US$4.4 billion from SoftBank. The company also recently secured debt financing of US$702 million from bond markets, according to the publication.

A WeWork spokesman did not comment on the matter, the report added.