CoWrks: Showcases its Bustling Community & Inspiring Office Facilities

Bangalore headquartered co-working community venture, backed by its current investor, Menda Family Office – CoWrks has opened its doors to a homogenous mix of people from small scale enterprises, startups to a pool of freelancers, independent professionals, entrepreneurs, and Fortune 500 companies at its 1.6 lakh square feet facility.

Apart from the design prowess the facility also equips the members working out of this center with campus amenities at RMZ Ecoworld such as the amphitheatre, art gallery, retail outlets, the integrated and fully equipped health club – ACTIV that includes an infinity pool, outdoor gym, tennis and squash court, jogging track and an elaborate food court - The Marketplace. The visual landscape of CoWrks is vibrant, diverse and witty. By developing its own unique design language that draws inspiration from pop and local culture, it strikes the right chord with members across a varied demographic, especially the millennials who will account for half the global workforce by 2020.

BWDisrupt interacted with the Founder of Cowrks, Sidharth to know more about their businesss model and facilities:

How did CoWrks come about/ the ethos of CoWrks? What kind of facilities are you providing for startups at CoWrks?

With a fresh wave of millennials hitting the industry shores in full force, there’s a growing need for workspaces to be redefined. CoWrks leverages transition and looks at work from a unique vantage point. By redefining the way people work, we are able to foster collaboration between a diverse community of creatives, entrepreneurs, and innovators.

The CoWrks community team strives to introduce every member to the rest of the network while amplifying collaboration and networking opportunities between startups and large enterprises, and Fortune 500 companies.

Educational events conducted by eminent business figures, form an integral part of the event calendar. These events bring startups and businesses alike together, and foster an environment where they learn and grow together.

CoWrks has partnered with accelerator programs that provide startups with resources that would help them iterate on their business and services while mentoring and educating them through a set program and industry interaction.

By forming alliances with several tools and services that members use - like SaaS products, taxi aggregators, food ordering apps, hyper-local delivery service providers, cloud hosting, code repositories, to name a few, CoWrks creates opportunities for startups and other CoWrks members to access a wide host of free and discounted services.

What is the business potential for CoWrks in metro-cities?
With millennials at its core, the modern workforce looks at work very differently when compared to their predecessors. There is a large influx of creative professionals while the current workforce gravitates towards independence.

The startup ecosystem is rapidly growing across all metro cities. Government initiatives have also contributed significantly to fuel this upsurge. Most tier 1 cities see a demand supply gap of grade A office spaces. Given the plug and play format that coworking spaces follow, CoWrks not only serves as a great alternative to traditional office spaces, but also as transitional / swing space.

We strongly focus on catering to millennials and their workspace needs. As tier 1, and tier 2 cities continue to show a great potential for entrepreneurship and innovation, the need for an open and flexible workspace that matches their creative wavelength will continue to exist.

Who are your major competitors in the co-working sector?
CoWrks prides itself on being India’s only large format coworking facility. Our flagship facility - the CoWrks Ecoworld chapter - at 160,000 sq.ft., would be the largest coworking facility in the country, and the fifth largest worldwide.

What is the existing monetization model of your business?
Ecoworld Chapter
Flexible Desk - 10,499/- Per Desk Per Month
Dedicated Desk - 11,499/- Per Desk Per Month
Private Studio - 21,999/- Per Desk Per Month

Infinity Chapter
Flexible Desk - 12,499/- Per Desk Per Month
Dedicated Desk - 13,499/- Per Desk Per Month
Private Studio - 23,499/- Per Desk Per Month

Can you share something about your future plans?
At present, the CoWrks community operates from two centers in Bangalore - CoWrks Ecoworld Chapter - Outer Ring Road, and CoWrks Infinity Chapter - New Indiranagar. In the six months that follow, the CoWrks community will strengthen by 15,000 members across 10 centers in - Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi–NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. Of these, centers in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi–NCR and Chennai are under construction.

Any major challenges you faced in setting up this business?
CoWrks places a lot of importance on fostering communities and bringing like minded individuals together. With this at it’s core, it becomes extremely crucial to find people who won’t just benefit from a community, but will also bring tremendous value to it.

We strive to draw a diverse blend of people and find members who bring unique learning opportunities to the fore. We believe that these communities need to be nurtured and not forced. To that effect, potential leads undergo a proprietary analysis that screens members to better understand them and their business.