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Awfis has a network of over 7,500 seats across 21 centres in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune

Awfis Space Solutions, an on-demand co-working space provider in Mumbai, has raised US$20 million in Series B round of financing from Sequoia India.

The capital infusion will help Awfis expand its network of centres, launch new products and services, and enhance existing technology. It plans to establish 100-plus centres with 35,000-plus seats across Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune over the next 24 months.

With this round, Awfis’s total external capital investment has touched US$31 million.

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Amit Ramani, Founder & CEO of Awfis, said: “We have seen a huge demand in the market for co-working spaces and have created a shared economy platform that leverages technology. Awfis is transforming under-utilised real estate assets and providing an affordable and exciting new age work environment for today’s entrepreneur. We believe that this will facilitate a change in preference of the conventional office user from traditional offices to new age co-working spaces.”

Awfis was started in April 2015 by Ramani, a veteran in the design management, workplace and business process improvement and facility planning, in partnership with The Three Sisters: Institutional Office (‘TTS:IO’) with a total capital investment of US$11 million.

Awfis Founder Amit Ramani

Awfis provides ready-to-use, plug-and-play offices across different cities that can be booked through its mobile app, available on Android and iOS. A user can choose his/her favourite space for an hour to 11 months, without the complications of a fixed tenure or security deposits. Private cabins and meeting rooms can be booked on a just-in-time basis.

The rent is decided based on the kind of inventory and the services on offer. Awfis has created different packages targeting individuals and groups with different needs, aspirations and wallet sizes. Its offerings range from flexi seats to fixed seats to cabin seating, in addition to meeting rooms at both its centres as well as third-party locations (hotels such as Marriot, Royal Orchid, Red Fox, Trident, Hyatt).

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Its offered prices are inclusive of add-on services like high–speed Internet, printing, F&B credits, meeting room credits, housekeeping and technology support.

In an interaction with e27 last year, Ramani had told e27 that the shared-economy ecosystem is driving the consumption of various services, including cabs and hotels by connecting under-utilised assets (supply) with just-in-time users (demand). “The birth of Awfis was driven by an unrelenting desire to provide quality workplaces at best locations on a just-in-time basis.”

As of today, Awfis has a network of over 7,500 seats across 21 centres in eight cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. It claims to have a an average 90 per cent occupancy across its established centres.

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Apart from its own proprietary centres, Awfis also has an asset-light ‘managed aggregation’ model, partnering with space owners who have unused commercial space and transforming them into suitable places.

The member base at Awfis includes a growing network of over 500 companies ranging from India’s leading startups/MSMEs to Fortune 500 companies.

Image Credit: Awfis

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