WeWork Global to invest $100 mn in India business to help boost growth

WeWork India, which provides collaborative workplace solutions, said it will receive $100 million financing from WeWork Global to help boost sustainable growth. This financing by WeWork Global reiterates the company’s focus on India as a strategic market.

WeWork said the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to flexible workspaces, with businesses of all sizes looking to manage cash-flows effectively by moving costs to a variable model. It said space as a service is a huge opportunity for them to free up cash, and WeWork has the right foundations and experience to provide safe and flexible workspaces. 

“The flexible workspace industry in India and around the world is facing its biggest challenge yet. In that, we see a new opportunity that suits our members’ evolving needs,” said Karan Virwani, CEO, WeWork India. “This is driven by an acceleration towards variable real estate costs, the confidence of safe and well-managed workspaces for their employees, and the growth opportunities that are intrinsic to the WeWork community,” he said.

 

In line with its belief that the future of work will be centred around flexible workspaces, a shift accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, WeWork India is looking to navigate this transformation by prioritising focused growth in the Indian market over the next 36 months. WeWork India said it is already profitable and plays an important role in the global scheme of business for WeWork. The WeWork India business will be focussing on showcasing their strengths through their extensive network of partners and vendors in the market.

WeWork entered into a partnership with India’s integrated real estate developer Embassy Group in 2017 and started operations in the Indian market.

“WeWork India’s financial performance has shown consistent growth,” said Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of WeWork. "With the fundamentals in place (and) backed by the expertise of the Embassy Group, we believe the WeWork India business has the ability to be our growth vehicle and provide our members an exceptional experience," he said.

The financing comes at a time when WeWork India said in May that it had laid off 100 employees, or 20 per cent of its workforce, as the office-sharing firm joined many companies that are cutting costs.