GoHive, a Coworking startup in Delhi-NCR, has raised Pre-Series A funding of Rs 2.5 crore in a round from undisclosed angel investors to fuel its growth and expansion plans.

The company has seven centres in Delhi-NCR with about 2,500 seats as of now. It is coming up with a new centre at Golf Course Extension Road in Gurugram next month. With this funding, GoHive aims to double its current size and reach to 5,000 seats within a year, with a presence in NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Mishu Ahluwalia, Founder & CEO, GoHive, said,

“The round has showcased investors’ confidence in our business strategy and our initiative to make spaces more accessible and suitable to different business needs, empower young companies, and enable deeper business inclusion in the ecosystem."

GoHive aspires to be one of the most preferred choices for collaborative workspace across India for startups and enterprises with strong community engagement and inspiring workspaces.

The coworking space segment is ever-growing in India. According to real estate advisory firm CBRE, India’s flexible workspace saw a 277 percent jump in leasing to reach nearly three million sqft in the first quarter of the calendar year 2019.

According to a JLL report, in the coming years, coworking spaces will take over conventional office spaces owing to the growing demand. On their part, entrepreneurs - a large number of them being millennials – seek convenience, ease of setting up office, and several amenities, all of which coworking business centres provide. 

Players like SoftBank-backed hospitality unicorn OYO is also now looking at the coworking segment. Recently, OYO Hotels and Homes acquired Delhi-NCR-based Innov8 for Rs 220 crore, and made its entry into the coworking space.

Innov8 is now part of OYO’s larger segment - Oyo Workspaces, led by Rohit Kapoor, CEO, New Real Estate Businesses. Being a fully controlled workspaces solutions provider, it is designed to meet the needs of over 80 percent of the working population in the country. 

Some industry experts say that India is at the cusp of a coworking revolution with domestic and global players like WeWork and CoWrks aggressively pushing the India market. Last year, coworking space provider Awfis garnered a whopping $20 million in a single fund raise led by Sequoia Capital.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)