Co-working start-up WeWork might have had a hard few days recently, but its India unit — WeWork India — is on a rapid expansion spree. On Friday, the franchise owned and operated by realty major Embassy Group announced that it has set up yet another large facility in the National Capital Region at Gurugram.
According to the company, this is the 28th co-working centre launched by WeWork India, taking its total capacity to over 47,000 desks across the national capital region, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune. The newest facility has been developed on an 85,000 square foot area taken on lease at the Vi-John Tower in the city and offers clients 1,351 seats in total.
“This new location targets Indian businesses of all sizes to help them move out of their traditional offices to an environment that inspires creativity and promotes productivity,” said Karan Virwani, Co-CWeO of WeWork India.
The new facility will offer clients seats and workspaces priced between Rs 6,000 to Rs 14,000 per seat, with the company pointing out that this centre has been tailored for homegrown, traditional Indian businesses and enterprises of all sizes.
The expansion comes just weeks after the company shrugged off reports of a possible impact from the troubles faced by the original WeWork brand. Both Virwani and Embassy Group chairman and managing director Jitu Virwani pointed out that despite WeWork’s deferment of its planned initial public offering (IPO) last month and the ousting of CEO and co-founder Adam Neumann, the India franchise would go ahead with its expansion as planned.
“We still believe in the WeWork brand and the India business is really growing well. Embassy Group is bullish about the co-working sector and we continue to expand,” Karan had said. “Adam Neumann or no Adam Neumann, our business is here to stay,” added Jitu Virwani.
In fact, the company is on the lookout for investors, with plans to raise as much as Rs 1,400 crore in order to fund its expansion by the end of the year. The company is also targeting an increase in its overall capacities, with a goal of hitting 1,00,000 seats by end of next year. WeWork India will also soon enter the Noida and Hyderabad office markets and has already taken on lease over 3 lakh sq ft office space in Noida to build three co-working centres.
The company aims to achieve profitability at the centre level before the next 12 months. Globally, the WeWork brand is present across 528 locations in over 111 cities and 29 countries as of the end of June.
Targeting businesses of all sizes
The new facility will offer clients seats and workspaces priced between Rs 6,000 to Rs 14,000 per seat, with the company pointing out that this centre has been tailored for traditional Indian businesses and enterprises of all sizes