Settl FY23 revenue jumps two-fold to Rs 17cr, to add 3,000 beds by March

Co-living operator Settl has clocked over two-fold jump in its revenue last fiscal to nearly Rs 17 crore and plans to expand its capacity by 2.5 times to 5,000 beds by March next year.

The company, which focuses on providing quality rental accommodations to working professionals, currently has around 2,000 beds at 40 centres across Bengaluru, Gurugram and Hyderabad.

It is now looking to enter the Noida, Pune and Chennai markets, Settl said in a statement on Monday.

The Bengaluru-based startup charges between Rs 12,000 and Rs 18,000 per bed.

"We are currently present in three cities dominated by IT firms. We are now actively looking at entering Noida, Pune and Chennai where a lot of professionals are working in IT and other sectors. We anticipate strong demand for quality co-living centre in these cities," Settl co-founder Abhishek Tripathi said.

The company is in an advanced stage of discussion with a few property owners in three cities where it has a presence as well as three new markets. The agreements are likely to be signed by September.

Settl said it has adopted an asset-light model and partners with property owners, instead of taking facilities on pure rental basis. This helps it to expand at a fast pace.

"The co-living segment was one of the worst affected sectors because of the closure of offices and educational institutions. But, it has bounced back sharply with employees returning to office fully or in hybrid mode," Tripathi said.

Employees will need rental accommodations in cities even if they have to go to the office for 2 days a week, he said.

Settl said its revenue jumped to Rs 16.75 crore last fiscal from Rs 6.75 crore in the previous year.

"We currently are operationally profitable and are projected to become EBIDTA-positive by the end of the 2024 fiscal year," he said.

Settl is a full-Stack co-living operator that acquires assets of the builders/asset owners for a long lease to provide a high-quality mix of co-living and community-living solutions to the working professionals, along with a host of other benefits.