Sequoia Capital Bets On Coworking In India

Capital Market company, Sequoia India, has bet US$20 million on the India-based coworking company, Awfis, in a series A round of capital infusion.

Tech in Asia recently reported that the funding round is “the biggest funding round in the space in India, and Sequoia is going solo with it. The round is even bigger than all of the capital raised by the top 10 highest funded co-working startups in India–combined.”

In the course of two years, coworking has boomed in India, with around 140 coworking space providers in the country, reports Tech in Asia. And Awfis isn’t the only operators that’s getting attention and funding for growth.

“Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Blume Ventures, Anthill Ventures, and even Facebook have already backed other Indian companies in the space like Innov8, BHive, 91Springboard, and MyHQ.”

Founded in 2015, Awfis has today 21 coworking locations across India, with a seating capacity of 7,500. Amit Ramani, founder of Awfis, told Tech in Asia that in the next two years “Awfis wants to up that number to 100 hubs with 35,000 seats.”

Ramani is planning for an aggressive expansion using Sequoia’s investment capital. According to the article, most of the funding will go into powering Awfis’ expansion, with another part going into marketing and brand building. The remaining capital will be used towards ‘building its tech muscle’.

As with coworking and flexible workspaces in other parts of the world, Ramani is anticipating that there will be winners and losers in the Indian market.

“Amit sees a lot of me-too players entering the field but feels that most will fall by the wayside. There will be casualties in the next 18-24 months,” he told Tech in Asia. “Some which will die and some which will get consolidated. The big boys will survive,” he stated.

Read the full Tech in Asia article here.