OYO launches co-working arm, eyes 50 centres by year-end

New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) Hopitality services provider OYO on Tuesday launched OYO Workspaces, its business unit for co-working spaces, which will include Powerstation and Workflo and the recently acquired Innov8.

"Powerstation offers beautiful and functional workspaces for small and medium scale businesses at the right prices and Workflo is budget-friendly, functional co-working solution catering to the aspirations of rising India," OYO said in a statement.

Led by Rohit Kapoor, CEO, New Real Estate Businesses, OYO Workspaces is a workspaces solutions provider, designed to meet the needs of over 80 per cent of the working population in the country.

Confirming the acquisition of Delhi-based co-working firm Innov8 by OYO, Ritesh Malik, founder of Innov8, said, "We are delighted to join forces with OYO in its mission of creating quality and beautiful spaces. This alliance will work toward simplifying and strengthening the co-working experience for Indians while tapping the enormous opportunities this space offers."

OYO Workspaces starts operations with over 21 workspaces, more than 15,000 seats across over 10 cities and aims to expand its footprint to over 50 centres by the end of year.

"Of these, Innov8 is spread across six cities of Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Mumbai, with 16 centres hosting over 6000 employees of brands, like Swiggy, Paytm, Pepsi, Nykaa, OLX and Lenskart," OYO said.

Powerstation had one centre in Gurugram with over a 1,000 seats and Workflo had set up four centres across NCR, Hyderabad and Bangalore with a hosting capacity of over 1,500 seats, it added.

Kapoor said, "Through a targeted multi-brand strategy, we aim to provide a differentiated experience for co-workers at different price points and help expand access to co-working spaces to more businesses and professionals."

"Given our experience in the hospitality industry and investment in core competencies that have helped us scale up so fast in the hospitality, housing rental and banquet services business, we believe we are uniquely placed to create a strong offering for the corporates looking for space as a service. I am particularly thrilled to welcome Innov8 team into the OYO family. It's a partnership, which has incredible potential," Kapoor said.