US co-working firm Venture X makes India debut with 2 Gurugram units

Venture X plans to expand pan-India by next year and will have its presence in all the major Tier-I and Tier-II cities.

US-based co-working firm Venture X made its India debut on June 21 with the launch of two office spaces in Gurugram, as demand for flexible workspaces rises in the country with a shift towards a hybrid model of work.

The two offices, set up with an investment of Rs 39 crore, have 1,200 seats spread across a cumulative area of over 61,000 square feet. The units are in Sector 67 and 44 of Gurugram, which has offices of several tech and multinational companies. The prices for the units start from Rs 9,000 a month.

"We are opening two facilities today…The Sector 67 unit houses 880 seats spread in 45,000 sq ft and the Sector 44 unit has 320 seats spread across 16,500 sq. ft. Our Sector 44 unit is 100 percent sold and the Sector 67 is 70 percent occupied," Rahul Kapur, India Partner, Venture X, said.

The coronavirus outbreak has upended office. Though curbs have eased but increasingly companies are offering hybrid model of work, which doesn’t require employees to be in the office on all days of week.

Co-working space offers flexibility and save money on office space for businesses.

Demand for co-working office space jumped over two-fold in the last fiscal year at 90,200 desks across seven major cities, a joint report by JLL India and Qdesq has said.

"Currently the flexible office space is five percent and is expected to touch 30 percent by 2030. There is a lot of demand and there is a supply of A-grade buildings post the pandemic,” said Kapur.

Venture X facilities in Gurugram will offer flexible, premium co-working space options for individuals and companies, including established businesses, entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises, the company said.

Venture X is an affiliated brand of the UFG coworking division, CoworksTM, a privately-owned franchisor in the co-working industry.

The company plans to expand pan-India by 2023 and have a presence in all the major Tier I and II cities.

Also Read: Flexible space footprint touches 40 million sq ft in FY22

“We are very bullish for the next six or ten months. We will be growing to 10 centres pan India by December 2023. The centres would come in places like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad," Kapur said.

Venture X was also in talks about its next franchise owner and would be inking a deal very soon, he said. Anil Lakra, India Partner, Venture X, said the company planned to invest around Rs 23 crore by 2023.

Mike Gallagher, Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific, said the company provides readymade solutions to the people looking to get into a co-working space.

They were very bullish on India and targetted it to be the first Venture X country within the Asia-Pacific region as it offers a good diversity of business, he said.

Also Read: Coworking share in office space absorption up eight percentage points in FY22: Anarock

"The Venture X flagship location in Gurugram is one of the largest facilities within our global network. The company started 10 years ago and is present across 200 locations. We have a presence in North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Indonesia," Gallagher added.

When asked about revenue, Kapur said the company functioned at about a 25 to 30 percent EBITDA margin and revenue would depend on the facility and the location.