This co-working space achieved profitability in just two years and is now aiming for an IPO

• In an interview with Business Insider, Amit Ramani, CEO, Awfis, talks about how they achieved profitability so soon.
• Awfis recently raised a Series D funding of $30 million from marquee investor ChrysCapital along with existing investors Sequoia India.
• According to reports, it plans to list by 2022.

As gig economy in India expands and agility is becoming common even amongst large established companies – co-working spaces have started mushrooming. Even in this crowded segment, Awfis is growing fast. It has also managed to clock in profits within two years of operations.

It recently raised Series D funding of $30 million from marquee investor ChrysCapital with participation from existing investors like Sequoia India & The Three Sisters: Institutional Office.

With this latest funding, Awfis plans to bring out new tech-driven innovative products and foray into Tier II markets like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Kochi and Indore. It is already present in Chandigarh.

The company also aims to go public by 2022.

Exponential growth

Awfis also achieved a rare feat for a startup, which is profitability within two years. In the very first year of operations in FY16, its revenues was at ₹1 crore. In the very next year, the number touched ₹18 crore. In the next, its exponential growth swelled it to ₹56 crore. In the current financial year, it expects it to more than double it.

“We have been growing three times every year, despite also adding seats and increasing our size,” Amit Ramani, CEO of Awfis told Business Insider India.

Profitability has always been core to its strategy. “We were deeply invested in the unit economics of each centre and were very careful not to overbuild the capacity of our staff or go overboard on marketing,” he said.

Ramani said that they now aim to expand to 200,000 seats by 2022. Currently, they have 30,000 seats across 63 centres in 10 cities.

Not just for startups

The company also discovered a new set of clientele. While most co-working spaces tend to target startups, Awfis realised that the Indian SMEs are in need of their services.

“While most co-working spaces look at just startups which are 10% of the total requirement of office space, 60-70% of SMEs remain underserved. So, we give SMEs an upgrade while also saving them money,” said Ramani.

Ramani said that when he had built the-proof-of-concept for Awfis in April 2015, it had three basic principles – bring flexibility back into real estate, provide accessibility as people’s lives are becoming very mobile and ensure transparency, with all discoverability and bookability being on an app allowing people to book on-the-go.

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