MASSIVE! WeWork India revenue to rise to around Rs 1,300 cr this year, says CEO Karan Virwani

Co-working major WeWork India's revenue is set to jump 70 per cent this calendar year to around Rs 1,300 crore on rising demand for flexible office space and the company is expanding its portfolio to achieve similar growth in 2023, its CEO Karan Virwani said on Tuesday.

Bengaluru-based WeWork India has a presence in six major cities, including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Its current portfolio comprises 6 million square feet of flexible office space with total capacity of around 70,000 desks across 41 centres.

In an interview with PTI, Virwani highlighted that the company has completed five years of operations, during which its portfolio and revenue have grown significantly.

"Our revenue for this calendar year is estimated to grow to about Rs 1,300 crore. The revenue was Rs 760 crore in 2021," he said.

The company is not only EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) positive but also generating free cash flow to expand business and sustain the growth momentum, Virwani said.

On the operational front, he said the occupancy rate has touched almost 90 per cent.

"70 per cent of the demand in our facilities is coming from large enterprises," he said, adding that actual footfall in its offices has risen to 60-70 per cent.

"The footfall will not increase much as many corporates continue to offer hybrid working," Virwani noted.

Asked about expansion, he said the portfolio would reach 6.5 million square feet by March next year and 8 million square feet by December 2023.

"In terms of desks, we will reach around 1 lakh by end of the next calendar year," Virwani said.

The company already has presence in Noida and Gurugram in the Delhi-NCR market and is now looking at entering Delhi.

On plans to raise funds, Virwani said the business is generating enough cash to meet capital expenditure (capex).

The requirement for capex is not much as landlords owning office buildings are ready to make investments, he noted.

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).

In June 2020, WeWork India, which seeks to become a 'one-stop shop' to meet all requirements related to workspaces, had raised USD 100 million from WeWork Global.