Founded in April last year, plug-and-play office space provider Awfis Space Solutions might have been in the market barely for 11 months but the start-up is already in expansion mode.
Currently, the company has seven properties in Delhi (two properties), Mumbai (four) and Bangalore (one). “By the end of this year, our goal is to be in 15 locations with 50 centres and 10,000 seats. So going from the current 1,500 seats we will be 4,000 by the end of March and then 10,000 seats by the end of December,” Amit Ramani, founder and CEO of Awfis, told Business Today. “We are also going to add four more cities – Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chennai.”
A new-age venture that targets the SMILE (small, medium, individual, local entrepreneurs) community, Awfis provides just-in-time office space that can be booked using its app, call centre or via sales executives. All the spaces provided by the company are equipped with CCTV cameras, sensors and NFC technology, and companies or even individuals can take them on rent for a maximum span of 11 months.
The company also offers meeting rooms on rent, for which it has tied up with hotels like Trident and Lemon Tree. These, too, can be booked on just-in-time basis using the Awfis app.
And like most start-ups of today, the company relies heavily on technology. “Technology is a very important factor, so if we want to people to use our spaces in just-in-time, we needed them to provide the ability to book-in-time,” Ramani said. “We have been able to create a system which allows people to use mobile phone to access a space, use their mobile phone to buy food, use it to buy additional credits etc.”
“Our charges start at Rs 4,500/month for a flexible seat, which means you don’t get a dedicated desk but you get a desk for sure and goes up to 13,000 for centres that are at a more premium location and this includes wireless, printing and tea/coffee,” Ramani informed.
According to Ramani, Awfis Space has so far raised $10 million in funding. The company plans to look for additional VC funding after September.
It is also planning to expand its employee base from current 70 to 400 by the end of 2016.
