ChrysCapital leads $30 million round in Awfis

06 August 2019

ChrysCapital leads $30 million round in Awfis

  • Economic Times

Proceeds from the deal will be primarily utilised to expand capacity, according to Amit Ramani, chief executive of Awfis.

ChrysCapital, India’s largest homegrown private equity firm, has led a $30 million (about ?213 crore) equity funding round in coworking space provider Awfis Space Solutions, both the firms said on Tuesday.

Proceeds from the deal, which was first reported by ET in its May 30 edition, will be primarily utilised to expand capacity, according to Amit Ramani, chief executive of Awfis.

“We’ve been pretty prudent with the capital raise that we have been undertaking, and the capital has been deployed very judiciously. This round allows us to expand our capacity to over 100,000 seats by 2020, and 200,000 seats by 2022,” Ramani told ET.

Sequoia Capital and Three Sisters, the family office of Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor, the two existing investors in Awfis, also participated in the funding round.

ChrysCapital has invested from its seventh fund, the 2016 vintage, $610 million ChrysCapital VII. Ramani also said the company plans to cap the round at $30 million.

Maple Capital Advisors acted as the sole financial advisor to Awfis for its latest round of fund raising. The Delhi-headquartered company, which competes with the likes of SoftBank-backed WeWork and Oyo-owned Innov8, among others, has raised a shade over $80 million in a mix of debt and equity financing till date.

The four-year-old company, which manages about 2 million square feet across India, also counts Temasek-backed venture debt firm InnoVen Capital as an institutional backer.

The development comes as India’s still-nascent co-working sector continues to expand, with investor interest keeping pace with what is seen as a real estate play underpinned by a technology foundation.

“The whole (Awfis) team and systems are originated around providing customers with flexibility… Ultimately, this is a services-led product, and not just a real estate play, which makes them a great fit for us,” Kshitij Sheth, vice-president at ChrysCapital, told ET.

Earlier this year, SoftBank-backed OYO Hotels & Homes acquired a majority stake in Gurugram-headquartered co-working space provider Innov8 for an estimated Rs 200-Rs 220 crore.

On Tuesday, ET was the first to report that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, had led a $53 million (about Rs 375 crore) debt financing round in Gurugram-based co-working startup GoWork, marking its return to the Indian startup ecosystem after more than five years.

ChrysCapital’s investment in Awfis is its first in the broader co-working segment, and also a rare one by the storied investment firm, which manages assets of over $4 billion, in India’s new economy sector, given that it has primarily preferred to back companies operating in core sectors ranging from financial services, information technology and consumer.

“Co-working has changed the way commercial real estate business is conducted globally and has picked up a lot of steam in India, with Awfis leading the disruption. Awfis’ sustainable approach to business, superior performance and strong customer focus has encouraged ChrysCapital to associate with them,” Sheth said.

Awfis, which currently has 30,000 seats across 63 centres spread across nine cities – Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune and Chandigarh – plans to enter Tier-2 cities, including Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bhuvaneshwar, Kochi and Indore.

For the financial year 2018-19, the company said revenue grew to Rs 165 crore from Rs 56 crore. It has reportedly projected a topline of Rs 300 crore in the current financial year.

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Awfis leases over 11k sq ft workspace in Kolkata to 3 large corporates in 6 months

13 October 2022

Awfis leases over 11k sq ft workspace in Kolkata to 3 large corporates in 6 months

  • Posted by Awfis Editorial

Awfis, India’s largest network of coworking spaces has leased over one lakh sq. ft. workspace in Kolkata to 3 large corporates in last 6 months alone.

In line with this partnership, Grant Thornton has taken customized set up in Awfis’ Eco Centre (Awfis Gold centre) at Acropolis Mall in Kolkata. Along with Grant Thornton, Awfis has also partnered with Teleperformance, a global digital integrated business service provider, and Conneqt, a leading digital IT and BPM services provider for over 1000 seats at Godrej Waterside and Technopolis centres respectively. In the past, Awfis has also partnered with electronics giant Samsung for over 500 seats in Kolkata.

Flex players are now taking up spaces in malls and hotels to expand their presence as startups, SMESs and enterprises warm up to the idea of shared facilities over owned premises. Given the above, Awfis is taking the collaborative workspace model to newer spaces like hotels and malls to meet the hybrid workspace demand, which has skyrocketed post-pandemic.

The Awfis environment provides a unique amalgamation of different workstyles while providing the company’s employees with amenities and benefits such as meeting rooms, a well-designed collaboration area, a multi-cuisine restaurant, concierge service along with full hygiene and safety measures.

“We are delighted to have a leading establishment like Grant Thornton as a key client. This valuable partnership is a game-changer for the industry where large corporates have realised the benefits of flexible working and are increasingly shifting from a centralized conventional office to decentralized and distributed flex offices for their workforce,” said Amit Ramani, Founder & CEO, Awfis.

Sumit Lakhani, Deputy CEO, Awfis added, “The trend of using flexible spaces in commercial real estate portfolios of large organizations is witnessing unprecedented growth and will become more prominent in the coming future. The flex space take up from large corporates in Kolkata is a clear reflection of the surge in demand that we are seeing pan India across all metros and tier 2 markets as well. Flex players are now being seen as valuable partners in setting up highly customized, efficient and agile workspaces by companies of all sizes.” he added.

Sanjay Mehta, Executive Director- Workplace Enablement, Grant Thornton Bharat said, “The vibrant tech-enabled environment, provides the right mix of a corporate office ambience combined with new-age elements for collaborative engagements and enhanced innovation. This will help improve our people and client experience.”

Currently, Awfis has 9 centres in Kolkata spread across premier and sought-after locations that include Acropolis Mall, Chowringhee road, Salt Lake, IT Hub in Salt Lake Sector V, and plans to add 2 new centres in the next 3 months.

Awfis Space Solutions currently has the largest network of coworking spaces with 131 centres and 77,500 seats across 14 cities.

This story appeared in the 13 October, 2022 issue of Economic Times and was originally published at: Awfis leases over 11k sq ft workspace in Kolkata to 3 large corporates in 6 months

Flexible space demand rises in step with return to office

03 August 2022

Flexible space demand rises in step with return to office

  • Posted by Awfis Editorial

After a gap of two years, the return-to-office arrangement has gathered momentum, with 74% of the occupiers of office spaces looking toward distributed workspaces as a strategy to shift from location-centric to people-centric work facilities, mentioned a C-Suite Survey conducted by Colliers and Awfis.

The report further mentions that the new work way is expected to enable flexibility for employees while furthering productivity gains for businesses and includes a hybrid way of working wherein employees come into the office a few times a week.

The survey was conducted amongst top CEOs and CXOs across IT/ITes, BFSI and e-commerce sectors, with more than 150 companies participating. It mentions that about 35% of the occupiers have seen a majority (75-100%) of employees return to offices.

“Distributed workspace strategy is the way to go for occupiers in this new era of experiential workplaces, as occupiers emerge from the after-effects of the pandemic,” said Ramesh Nair, Chief Executive Officer, India and Managing Director, Market Development, Asia, Colliers. “Flex spaces, in particular, are leading this growth, as occupiers from varied sectors are housing teams in flex centers across cities.”

This shift in strategy is also reflected in the leasing by flex operators. They leased about 3.5 million sq feet of space in H1 2022 across the top six cities.

This story appeared in the 3 August, 2022 issue of The Economic Times and was originally published at: Flexible space demand rises in step with return to office

Awfis elevates Sumit Lakhani to Deputy CEO

21 July 2022

Awfis elevates Sumit Lakhani to Deputy CEO

  • Posted by Awfis Editorial

Awfis, one of the country’s largest network of coworking spaces has announced the elevation of Sumit Lakhani as Deputy CEO of the company. Previously, Sumit was the chief sales and marketing officer at Awfis and has been a crucial part of the company since it’s inception in 2015.

Lakhani has been instrumental in building the company from the ground up. He’s played a key business role, not limited only to sales and marketing. With his keen interest and acumen in finance and strategy, he has also been in the forefront of delivery, revenue generation and maximizing operational excellence. In his new role, Sumit will be responsible for all facets of the company’s investor relations, FP&A along with the existing responsibility of sales and marketing.

“Awfis and will continue to strive to further enrich the experiences for our existing community and scale towards greater heights. Awfis is redefining the future of work that focuses on creating a flexible, dynamic, and collaborative workplace environment for all its stakeholders and I am delighted to be a part of this journey.” said Lakhani.

Amit Ramani, Founder & CEO, Awfis said, “With his demonstrated ability to balance operational excellence with financial and marketing discipline, Sumit will provide instrumental leadership and direction to Awfis. I am confident Sumit will continue to drive innovation and growth for Awfis in his new role.”

Till date, Lakhani has successfully led various rounds of fund-raise and his zealous commitment to transform Awfis from a coworking network to a complete workplace solution platform.

This story appeared in the 21 July, 2022 issue of The Economic Times and was originally published at: Awfis elevates Sumit Lakhani to Deputy CEO

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