Deal Street: India’s Co-Working Startups Are On A Roll Raising Funds
Your weekly dose of startup deals.
Five Indian startups raised this week nearly Rs 1,300 crore in angel, seed and venture capital funding across sectors such as fintech, home services, among others.
Co-working startups, however, bagged the most funding, with investors queuing up to back GoWork and Awfis. This is indicative of the fact that the office-sharing model is gaining traction among individuals, small and medium enterprises and corporates in the country.
The share of co-working spaces in overall office-leasing in top seven cities rose from 5 percent in 2017 to 12 percent in the first quartr of 2019, commercial real estate services firm JLL India said. It estimates the segment to attract over $1 billion in funding in 2019-20.
GoWork Raises $53 Million From BlackRock, CLSA
BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, has led a $53 million (Rs 375 crore) debt funding round in Gurugram-based co-working startup GoWork.
CLSA Capital Partners’ Special Situations Group, also participated in GoWork's funding round, the company said in a statement. The firm said it aims to use the funds to grow its business and provide value-added services to its clients.
BlackRock and CLSA’s support would help GoWork to scale its growth across India, GoWork CEO Sudeep Singh said in the statement.
The co-working startup provides full-managed office facilities, including services such as gym, meditation zones and spas, and has a capacity of 12,000 seats across 8 lakh square feet in its two Gurugram offices.
Awfis Raises $30 Million From ChrysCapital, Sequoia
Awfis has raised about $30 million (about Rs 212 crore) from India-based private equity firm ChrysCapital. Existing investors, including Sequoia India and The Three Sisters Institutional Office, also participated in the round, the company said in a statement.
The funding will be used to expand and introduce new and innovative products and services, Awfis said.
The co-working startup, at present, has about 30,000 seats across 63 centres in nine cities of India. It has a member base of over 1,500 firms and 25,000 professionals.
Amit Ramani, Awfis’ founder and chief executive officer, said the company aims to have over 400 centres and 2 lakh seats in the next 36 months. “Our focus is to fortify our base in tier-I cities and further enter newer market with expansion into tier-II cities,” said Ramani.
The startup has, till date, raised nearly $81 million.
Indifi Raises $21 Million
Fintech startup Indifi Technologies Pvt. Ltd. has raised $21 million (about Rs 145 crore) in equity funding in a round led by CDC Group Plc, the development finance arm of the U.K. government.
Existing investors, including social impact funds Omidyar Network and Elevar Equity, and venture capital firm Accel Partners, also participated in the round, the company said in a statement.
“CDC’s investment validates our business model and further augments our operational capabilities,” Alok Mittal, co-founder of Indifi Technologies, was quoted as saying in the statement.
The fintech startup said the funds will be used to diversify into new verticals, develop technology and data infrastructure for future growth. A part of the investment would also go into expanding customer service offerings.
Founded in 2015, Indifi provides loans to small businesses in travel, e-commerce and retail sectors.
Others
On-demand hyperlocal services provider UrbanClap raised $75 million in its growth funding round led by Tiger Global Management. Existing investors Steadview Capital and Vy Capital also participated in the fundraising, a statement by UrbanClap said.
Non-banking financier Aye Finance raised $8 million (around Rs 55 crore) from Maharashtra-based DCB Bank through a securitisation deal. The company said in a statement it will use the funds to grow its loan book and offer affordable and customised credit solutions to micro-enterprises.