Awfis, a Mumbai-based co-working office space provider, has managed to secure $20 million in its latest funding round. The funding comes from Sequoia Capital — one of the most active VC firms in India.
This fundraising round is a part of the company’s Series B. With this infusion, the total capital raised by Awfis stands at $31 million. The company is now planning to use the funds to expand its existing network of centers, launch new products and services, and to further enhance its technology platform.
Commenting on the investment, Abhay Pandey, managing director at Sequoia Capital India Advisors said:
Awfis is playing on two significant global trends -sha ring economy and communities. This being delivered through a superior user experience at a lower total cost makes it more exciting.
Amit Ramani, co-founder and CEO of Awfis says that with this funding, they should be able to increase seat capacity to over 25,000 in 12 months along with 80 centers. It is now targeting an expansion to 35,000 seats and about 100 centers over the next 18-24 months.
Awfis, which opened its first facility in Delhi in 2015, is a joint venture between Amit Ramani, the founder and MD of real estate design consulting firm Nelson India and The Three Sisters: Institutional Office, a family-run investment firm managed by Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor’s daughters.
The company is currently operating 21 centers across eight cities in India. It has a total seating capacity of around 7,500 and hosts a community of more than 5,000 people from over 500 companies including small and medium enterprises, startups, and corporates opting for shared, ready-to-use work spaces.
Awfis has a unique, asset light “managed aggregation” business model, where it partners with the space owners who have unused commercial space and transforms the same into suitable places to work. It claims that the centers, which are now operational for more than 90 days, are functioning at 90 percent occupancy.
Currently, the biggest entities in this co-working space segment include 91springboard, Innov8, and InstaOffice, besides CoWork India and BHIVE. WeWork, a leading shared workspace provider with a presence in 15 countries, has also entered the subcontinent.
WeWork will open its first center in Bengaluru this year and has leased a 16-storey building, representing almost 190,000 sq. ft area, in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex.
1 comment