Byju’s & Unacademy among cos renting flexi-offices as they expand ops; tech, fintech and edtech players seen increasingly using more space

Source : ETT / https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/property-/-cstruction/unicorns-startups-drive-demand-for-flexible-offices/articleshow/91109792

Flexible office operators are recording higher demand for large office spaces from wellfunded startups and unicorns after the opening of offices and large-scale adoption of hybrid work models. The flexible office concept has been readily adopted by the new-age companies. Wellfunded startups such as Byju’s and Unacademy have been taking up space as they expand their teams and acquire new companies. Recently, fashion retailer Myntra, too, has more than doubled its footprint by moving into a managed office space. Zerodha Ola Electric, Zomato, Flipkart, and Razorpay arejust a few of the well-known startups that have taken up a lot of space in flexible or managed offices. “Today, the biggest occupiers of managed offices are unicorns. Prepandemic, a bulk of the absorption of our spaces was led by MNCs, large enterprises, and offshore development centres, followed by startups,” said Rishi Das, co-founder of IndiQube. The firm expects 30% growth in deal closures from unicorns over the next six months. According to industry experts, an increase in technology adoption, rise of fintech and edtech players, a booming funding landscape, and a rapid increase in hiring have all played a key role in driving growth. The flexible office operators are also seeing multiple orders for 1,000 plus seats, compared to an average of 500 seats before the pandemic. Smartworks has leased around 1 million sq ft in existing and upcomingfacilities and expects the number to double in the coming quarters, with demand from unicorns and established startups at an all time
high. Harsh Binani, co-founder of Smartworks, said managed space helps companies to focus on their core work, increase employee productivity, cut costs, be more flexible, and make it easier to hire the best people by being in the right places in the right cities. Simpliwork Offices is witnes

RISING ORDERS
Flexible office operators are seeing orders for 1K plus seats, compared to an average of 500 seats before the pandemic

sing over a 10X rise in the number of enquiries coming in from unicorns, soonicorns, and even pre-IPO startups. “They are all looking to have a single agency responsible for their office space and a solution that can cater to the hybrid work environment,” said Kunal Walla, CEO and founder of Simpliwork Offices.
These startups are expected to occupy over 20 million sq ft of flexible office space over the next two years as they expand their operations. “Startups including unicorns have shown preference for main, ged office spaces to be able to manage their growth strategies. We expect the demand for managed spaces to grow in the near future with developers taking on the role of managed spaces providers,” said Viral Desai, executive director, transactions at Knight Frank India. According to a recent PwC Ind) report, the startup ecosystem. It created as many as 14 unicorns ‘the first three months of 2022 a for the third consecutive quart) they have received over $10 bill across 3.34 funding deals.