WeWork India revenue up 33% at Rs 800 crore in 2021

NEW DELHI: Coworking major WeWork India’s revenue rose by 33 per cent to over Rs 800
crore this year and is expected to grow further in 2022 on improved demand for its flexible
workspaces, a company official said. In an interview with PTI, WeWork India Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) Karan Virwani outlined his vision to make the company a “one-stop shop” to meet
all requirements related to workspace.
Looking at the growing demand for flexibility, he said the company would expand its portfolio by
one million square feet area with capacity of about 20,000 desks.
At present, it operates 5 million square feet area at 36 locations comprising 64,000 seating
capacity. It currently has a presence in six major cities including DelhiNCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Virwani highlighted that the recovery in the flexible workspace
segment after the second wave of the COVID pandemic has been very strong.

The occupancy level at its various coworking centres has reached more than 75 per cent,
enabling its entire portfolio to become profitable in November month.
“We were able to grow our business to over Rs 800 crore topline for this calendar year and as of
last month we became profitable,” he said.
Virwani said the company had clocked close to Rs 600 crore revenue in the last calendar year.
He highlighted that the demand has rebounded strongly to breach even the pre-COVID level.
“Today companies of all sizes, be it 100-year-old company or a startup, are looking at flexible
space as the way to move forward.”
Viwarni said the hiring activities in IT/ITeS sector and startups remained buoyant during the last
18 months.
“Corporates want to adopt a hybrid model in their real estate strategy as they come out of the
pandemic. They (corporates) want multiple products and multiple solutions for how they want to
operate.”
WeWork India has launched many products to cater to this evolving demand such as day pass.
“WeWork is trying to build a platform that is a one-stop shop for all sort of needs related to
workspace,” he said.
Virwani said that WeWork as a company and as a platform could provide different products to
corporates as per their requirements.
He said the company has been able to cater to the entire range of demand for workspaces and
not focus only on enterprises.
For the new year, Virwani said the target is to expand the portfolio by one million square feet,
increase occupancy level, grow revenue and remain profitable.
Asked about fundraising, he said the requirement of capital has been reduced with many
landlords ready to invest in CAPEX. However, he said the company could raise funds if
required.
Earlier this year, WeWork India had raised Rs 200 crore from investors as equity and debt to
grow its business. In June last year, WeWork Global had invested USD 100 million (about Rs
750 crore) in WeWork India.
Recently, property consultant Colliers and Qdesq said that flexible workspace stock would cross
60 million square feet in metro and non-metro cities by 2023, as occupiers embrace agility and
flexibility in their work models.
In 2017, WeWork Global had partnered with Bengaluru-based Embassy Group to enter the
Indian market.
Embassy Group, which is one of the leading real estate firms in the country, has also launched
the country’s first real estate investment trust (REIT).