Who moved my office? Some popular co-working spaces in India
Co-working spaces are a sign of the times. Catering to the ever-changing workspace requirements of professionals, businesspeople and the now-ubiquitous startup, commercial workspaces are adapting fast and offering more than just flexible rents and free coffee
Image by : Courtesy Hive
1/16
VR Bengaluru
Whitefield, Bengaluru
When Virtuous Retail set out to “build new age community spaces to provide social infrastructure at cost-competitive rates”, they intended it to be the size of a mall with retail, F&B and entertainment. And it is no less. For a fee of Rs 10,000 a month, you have access to a dedicated desk at the co-working space running across three floors, and also to the sky deck with a swimming pool, a fitness centre and a rooftop bar. Then there are serviced apartments on each floor—for which members get discounted rates—besides restaurants and a cinema theatre. The likes of Airbus and iD Fresh Foods work out of The Hive’s units.
Image by : Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Forbes India
2/16
Indiranagar
Bengaluru
Shashikiran Rao and Karan Bahadur—they worked at The Indus Entrepreneurs, a non-profit fostering entrepreneurship in Bengaluru, and founded Startup Festival in 2013—founded Construkt Startup Hostel in May 2016, with 20 beds and a self-catered kitchen Says Bahadur, “A lot of people come here for two weeks to three months. We help them connect with other startups and angel investors.”
Image by : Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Forbes India
3/16
Church Street
Bengaluru
NUMA Bengaluru was one of the first co-working spaces to sprout in the city in its previous avatar as Cobalt. Now a part of the prestigious NUMA Paris, with branches in eight cities worldwide, it offers incubation and acceleration programmes to selected early-phase startups. The co-working space is abuzz with the previous seasons’ alumni networking furiously amid the small companies that work out of here.
Image by : Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Forbes India
4/16
Halasuru metro station
Bengaluru
When Anupama Gowda and Pawan Kumar were trying to set up NumberNagar, a math activity centre in 2012, they had difficulty trying to find space to prototype the project.
In 2014, they bid for an empty cavernous space beneath under the Halasuru metro flyover, and took it on rent for six years from BMRC to create a fabrication lab for tinkerers, innovators and entrepreneurs. Workbench Projects gives any interested person access to a host of machines, tools and co-working facilities with Wi-Fi access, storage (for personal belongings and prototypes), and a funded, three-month residency programme.
Gowda and Kumar are also using the same space to host a team of 20 to 30 members from six institutions in helping Hyperloop India build their Orcapod.
Image by : Joshua Navalkar
5/16
Khar
Mumbai
You can’t not have found yourself in one of the 16 Socials that have popped up across the metros in the last three years. The concept, pioneered by Riyaaz Amlani in 2015, is a vibrant bar by evening that wakes in the morning and becomes a workspace with a sprightly breakfast menu, thoughtfully placed plug points, and ‘why didn’t I think of that’ furniture. Most millennials who turn up to work stretch out for a beer knowing they won’t be judged for it.
Monthly access costs Rs 5,000, which is fully redeemable on food and beverages. But first you need to get past the culture manager and prove your clean credentials.
Image by : Joshua Navalkar
6/16
Kitab Mahal, Fort
Mumbai
While restoring a neglected high-ceilinged heritage property in Fort, Dutch designers Marlies Bloemendaal and Natascha Chadha created Ministry of New “whose energy will make you connect to your inner creativity”, says the latter. It was their tribute to Mumbai and the Indian culture they love, for which they combined European design sensibilities with Indian elements. The space attracts a crowd as diverse as a scientist working for Nasa, film production company Future East, Financial Times and Gelato, a digital printing company from Norway.
Image by : Joshua Navalkar
7/16
Khar (West)
Mumbai
Since moving on from his career in the hospitality sector, Sudeip Nair had been mulling over a question: What should the live entertainment ecosphere be like?
Established venues in most big cities are booked for years by established artistes, leaving newcomers and experimental performers struggling to get a toehold. This led to Nair to create space in a converted bungalow, “with an open courtyard and two terraces”, that supports performances, a recording studio, a co-working space for collaborative startups and a café.
Focusing on live performances, The Hive hosted 700 events in 2016—a record according to Allevents.in, an event aggregator.
For co-workers, it offers basic utilities such as Wi-Fi, beverages, meeting rooms and event spaces.
Image by : P Ravikumar for Forbes India
8/16
Adyar
Chennai
“We were recruiting women for our digital marketing agency,” recalls Vandhana Ramanathan, founder and CEO of WSquare, “and were amazed at the sheer number who had quit their jobs because they felt guilty about leaving their children behind.” They couldn’t work from home either, given the many interruptions. That spurred Vandhana and co-founder Jinal Patel to find a homey space—an independent two-floor house with a garden in a residential area—and launch WSquare, a women-only co-working space, in 2016. What they do differently: Run a concierge service that takes care of grocery shopping, home-cooked meal takeaways, on-call services like a beautician, a personal ‘me’ room and child care services. They also saw a disconnect between women who want to resume work after a long sabbatical and corporations looking to hire them; they are now developing a database to address this issue. WSquare aims to expand to 100 centres in South India over the next 18 months.
Image by : Madhu Kapparath
9/16
Safdarjung Development Area
Delhi
Every Delhi IITian has walked past this Barista, even if they have not stepped in. The café, right across from the gate of the Indian Institute of Technology, has, over the years, been a breeding ground for big money startups. Drop by anytime and you are sure to find a groggy-eyed IITian lounging in one of the chairs outside, stuck in a moment with a smoke and a latte.
Image by : Madhu Kapparath
10/16
Gurugram
If there’s creative anarchy let loose, it’s here, in this film set-like space, standing out amidst the bars and restaurants behind the towering facades of glass and steel. The space pays homage to Mumbai’s chawls, and features wooden railings and tiny rooms with fading grey-green walls and exposed electric meters and wiring, and littered concrete pipes that provide shelter to the homeless. This outlet, part of Riyaaz Amlani’s Social, has a design that is radically different from the chain’s usual décor and ambience. But, like the other Social outlets, this one too has an in-house culture manager whose job is to connect and build a community, but that’s another story.
Image by : Madhu Kapparath
11/16
Anywhere
Delhi
Amit Ramani, founder and CEO of Awfis, believes this is the future of working. His efforts at making the daily commute a more productive one has taken the shape of an eight-seater van—launched last October—equipped with Wi-Fi, teleconferencing facilities, printers, CCTV, washroom and pantry. The van is available to Awfis members on hourly and daily rental plans. After receiving an enthusiastic response, Awfis is going to launch similar SUVs for smaller teams.
In April, Awfis received $20 million in funding from Sequoia Capital.
Image by : Madhu Kapparath
12/16
Rajiv Chowk Metro Station
Delhi
Launched in 1996, when internet was still in its infancy in India, it was everyman’s go-to place when free Wi-Fi back then was way too slow, and the waiters were too timid to tell you off for occupying the tables too long. The sofas were comfortable and you got your cup’s worth of air-conditioning to hammer out that pending proposal. With more than 1,500 outlets all over India now, it has been proven that a lot can happen over coffee.
Image by : Madhu Kapparath
13/16
Connaught Place
Delhi
The atmospheric illumination “mimicking the light from a thousand lamps” warms the large space of colonial heritage, while the dance floor gives in to the exuberant rhythms of the salsa. But that’s just the night. “We wanted to create an affordable space for the youth to hang out during the day,” says founder Viraj Lamba, who collaborated with MTV to create the on-ground version of the channel. Lamba is referring to the kind—such as college students or bloggers—who’ll spend a couple of hours a day poring over the next content upload. Hence, also, the one-day access that gives unlimited coffee, Wi-Fi and a place to sit.
Image by : Madhu Kapparath
14/16
Saidulajab, Saket
Delhi
It’s a pleasure to watch the beans being roasted with care across the glass partition while working on a hotshot project over a cup of fine coffee, like many regulars who frequent this café do. When Matt Chitharanjan and Namrata Asthana moved to Delhi from Chennai in 2012, they sorely missed the local roasting shops. It struck them that while excellent specialty coffee is grown in India, it is difficult to find any of it being sold domestically. This made them start a roasting company in 2013 where “the coffee we roast is the coffee we like to drink”. The company has 10 varieties of coffee, sourced from South India, and sells through their website, five outlets in Delhi and Mumbai, and a few select retailers.
Image by : Madhu Kapparath
15/16
Gurugram
Sameer Dhar knows what makes a good beer. And knows what it feels like to be a young guy on the make. He says that if you have Rs 5,000 to pay upfront, you aren’t a startup. Why else would he charge Rs 99 if you plan to sit around in this gorgeous space from 9 to 7? He throws in Nescafé instant coffee and Parle-G biscuits and mathri and 500 MB of free Wi-Fi too. Why? “Who knows who among these might be the next billionaire?” No matter what, you will still want to spend money on the limited beer brews that Dhar pays close attention to—the fully matured German beer that he brews is sold at this pub alone—while the live bands on most evenings play on.
Image by : Madhu Kapparath
16/16
Gurugram
Business folks know that a luxury hotel’s lounge has always been unmatched for its plush settings and elegant calm. Trident Gurugram has stepped into the co-working arena, calling its stylish lounge “the new meeting ground”, offering Wi-Fi, artisanal tea and coffee, a small-plates menu, and the services of a business concierge at their resort-like property in Gurugram.
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