WeWork, a popular co-working venture which is a US-based firm is accelerating up to expand its existence in India. The firm is planning to set up more locations in areas such as Bengaluru, Mumbai and Gurugram with an aim to have over 35,000 seats in the country by the end of this year.
Currently, the firm has its existence in only three of these cities in the country with about 12,000 seats. However, now it is also looking to establish co-working spaces in Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad next year.
“We have been open for a year and we have grown very quickly. We started with 2,200 desks and we are now over 10,000 members which is pretty amazing,” said Ryan Bennett, Chief WeWork Officer.
These days co-working has become a very convenient option for not only startups but big companies as well. WeWork offers its services not only to entrepreneurs and startups but also to companies such as Discovery India, GoDaddy, Twitter and Jaguar Land Rover.
These days, many individuals, startups and even larger enterprises are going for co-working spaces in place of conventional office spaces. This is because of a number of reasons, that include lower rentals, savings on operational costs and a more flexible work environment.
“We are continuing to grow at a strong pace, we have four locations in Mumbai, four in Bengaluru and one in Gurugram currently. By the end of the year, we will have 5 locations in Gurugram, 10 in Mumbai and 8 in Bengaluru,” Bennett added. “Within six months, almost all of our locations are at 90% occupancy. We are putting a lot of money into growth right… We are not competing with co-working spaces but traditional workspaces and real estate.”
In India, the strong and dominating players in the co-working space include Awfis, Innov8, CoWrks and Indiqube, among others. It was last week that Awfis Space secured $20 million in series C funding from its existing investors. The trend of co-working is growing day by day and this seems to be a good news for the startups.