WeWork enters Hyderabad co-working space with 7,000 desk capacity

Company makes aggressive foray into city in contrast with gradual capacity build-up elsewhere, is sure of faster occupancy here as city posted highest office-space absorption in one quarter

American co-working office space platform WeWork today launched its first collaborative workspace in Hyderabad with a combined 7,000-desk (seating) spread across two large properties in Hitec City and Financial District. 

The company said it chose to make an aggressive foray into the Hyderabad market in contrast to a gradual capacity build-up adopted for other Indian cities, as it was confident of quicker occupancy in this Southern city, which was recently in news for posting the highest office-space absorption in one quarter.

WeWork started India operations in partnership with the Embassy Group over a two-and-a-half years ago. It currently operates 4.45 million square feet of co-working space consisting of 54,000 desk spaces across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Noida and Pune, besides Hyderabad.

The company will focus on these core markets for the next 12 months before considering expansion to other places, including tier-2 cities, according to WeWork India Co-CEO Ryan Bennet.

"We see a huge demand for the co-working space from enterprise customers among other people in India. We are looking to expand their base in a work environment that leads to collaboration, productivity, and innovation. The company will use this opportunity for sustained growth and profitability in our future operations," Bennet said.

WeWork has a 25 per cent share in 20 million sq ft co-working space market in India along with a higher mix of enterprise customer base as its clients. Among the enterprise customers, around 65 per cent are Indian and others from the US and other countries. 

Usually it takes 12-18 months to achieve 85 per cent occupancy levels after launching a co-working space location, according to Bennet. However he is expecting a faster turnaround for the newly launched co-working space in the city. Even big companies would prefer co-working to deploy employees in transition, while the WeWork platform with products and services available across 127 cities in 33 countries provides a big advantage for those looking to expand their footprint, Bennet explained.