Co-working spaces provider, Awfis Space Solutions, is on a major expansion drive, setting up new centres, and expects to add about 15,000 seats to its portfolio of 25,000 seats by March 2019. “Founded about three years ago, the company has a nationwide network of 55 centres, with a base of 25,000 seats across nine cities and 45 micro markets. We expect to take this up to 40,000 seats by March 2019,” Amit Ramani, Founder and CEO of Awfis, said.
Speaking here along with Sumit Lakhani, Chief Marketing Officer of Awfis, Ramani said, “While we are consolidating our presence across the country, we are also looking at setting up centres in six more cities, including Chennai, as the demand for co-working spaces is growing at a rapid pace.”
Sumit Lakhani said, “The company has grown to about 2,000 seats from 200 seats in Hyderabad in just about two years, and we expect to take this up to 5,000 seats with the addition of two more centres within three-four months. These will come up in the IT hubs of Hitec City and Raidurg.”
“We have built a corporate client base which includes Vodafone, Hinduja Global, Reliance, MercedesBenz, Hitachi, Practo, Zomato and expect such engagements to continue as we expand our business in new cities,” Lakhani said.
The company has strengthened its presence in Hyderabad in partnership with Sandhya Hospitality to offer co-work spaces to curate engagements with new potential tenants. Contrary to the general perception that the majority of co-working spaces would be taken up by start-ups, data shows that a big chunk of tenants are in fact corporate customers with 50 seats and above. About 55 per cent clients take 50 seats and above. Awfis is backed by marquee investors, including Sequoia Capital, TTS:IO and InnoVen Capital, and expects this to see it through during its near-term expansion.