Awfis Space Solutions Pvt. Ltd., one of South Asia’s largest networks of collaborative co-working spaces, founded by Amit Ramani in 2015 and backed by The Three Sisters: Institutional Office (TTS:IO), has received an investment of $20 million from Sequoia India.
The firm plans to take on Regus, the world’s largest provider of flexible workspace solution in India.
“The funds will be used to grow its network of centres, launch new and innovative products/services and further enhance the existing technology platform,” Amit Ramani – Founder & CEO, Awfis told The Hindu.
“The company plans to establish 100 plus centres with 35,000 plus seats across Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune in the next 24 months,” he said.
Awfis, with a network of over more than 7,500 seats across 21 centres in 8 cities,across India plans to scale up to 35,000-plus seats across 100 centres in 9 cities making it much bigger than its competitor Regus. the world’s largest provider of flexible workspace solution in India, with close to 10,000 seats.
Confirming the development, Amit Ramani – Founder & CEO, Awfis told The Hindu, “The funds will be used to grow its network of centers, launch new and innovative products/services and further enhance the existing technology platform. The company plans to establish 100+ centres with 35,000+ seats across Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune in the next 24 months.”
TTS:IO is led by Radha, Raakhe and Roshini, the three daughters of Mr. Rana Kapoor is an institutionally organized family office founded with the stated objective of incubating ‘new-age’ creative businesses.
The company has a target of having an Awfis centre within a 10 minutes driving radius in each of the key metros. Maple Capital Advisors acted as the financial advisor for the transaction.
Talking about the investment from Sequoia India, Mr. Ramani said, We are thrilled with the market response and are confident that this funding will further enable our goal to have an ‘Awfis’ available anytime/anywhere in all major cities.”
Awfis was jointly incubated by Amit Ramani and TTS:IO with a total capital investment of $11 million in April 2015.
Radha Kapoor Khanna – Sponsor, TTS:IO and Board Member, Awfis said, “We believe that Awfis, through its new age workspace designs and best in class technology is well positioned to bring in benefits of shared economy to start-ups, MSMEs and corporates. We are delighted with the induction of Sequoia India into Awfis as we attempt to build scale and retain our No. 1 position in the market.”
The member base at Awfis includes a growing network of 500 plus companies ranging from India’s leading startups/MSMEs to Fortune 500 companies, forming the largest co-working community in India.
Abhay Pandey, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors, said, “Awfis is playing on two significant global trends - sharing economy and communities. This being delivered through a superior user experience at a lower total cost makes it more exciting. We are delighted to partner with Amit and team and TTS:IO in this journey.”
