Smartworks looking to raise USD 20-30mn to open more co-working facilities

Co-working operator Smartworks plans to raise around USD 20-30 million to expand its business three times in the next two years to 60,000 seats, and tap the rising demand of shared office space, a top company official said.

Founded in April 2016, Smartworks has 15 operational facilities across nine cities covering 16,000 seating capacity. It will soon add three more centres, taking the total number of centres to 18 with a capacity of 20,000 seats.

"We have invested USD 20 million in the business to scale it up in the last two years to be among the largest players in the coworking space. Our rapidly expanding footprint is now at 15 operational centres covering 1.2 million plus sq ft. We are excited to seek the right funding partner to scale up the business to the next level," Smartworks founder Neetish Sarda told PTI.

He said the company has chalked out plans to reach 40 centres by September 2020, comprising 60,000 seats spread over 3 million sq ft area.

"For our expansion plan and next phase of growth, we are looking to raise between USD 20 million and USD 30 million," Sarda said.

The company was in talks with some investors to raise funds, he said, adding that the deal would be closed soon.

Smartworks has three centres in Pune, two each in Mumbai, Gurugram, Chennai and Bengaluru. In Delhi, Noida, Hyderabad and Kolkata, it has one centre each. It would soon open three centres in Chennai, Bengaluru and Gurugram.

Harsh Binani, co-founder, said the company has become profitable with its revenue rising 15 per cent month-on-month. The revenue jumped five times during 2017-18.

Smartworks has brought on board several big clients, including Tata Communications, Microsoft, Arcelor Mittal, Amazon, Carrier, Otis, Daikin, Lenovo, Bacardi, Swiggy, Rivigo and OLX.

Smartworks is reinventing enterprise workspaces to boost employee productivity and to become the preferred workspace for India's vibrant millennials, Binani said.

The demand for co-working space is rising in India due to affordable rents and flexible working options.

"The use of co-working spaces is expected to rise, with the concept being adopted not only by start-ups and individuals, but also by well-established corporates with fluid expansion/occupation plans. This is expected to push up the share of co-working spaces in overall space leasing," said property consultant CBRE in its report recently.