Smartworks eyes 35% annual growth post-IPO amid rising office demand

Business Standard

6 days ago

Gurugram-based shared office space provider and D-Street debutant Smartworks Coworking Spaces aims to maintain an annual growth rate of 35 per cent, having added 1.5 million square feet to its overall portfolio within the January–March 2025 period, versus an average of 1.3 million for each year since 2022.
'Over the past three years, we have expanded to 10 million from 6 million square feet. In the first three months of 2025 alone, we added another 1.5 million square feet, bringing our total to over 11.5 million square feet,' said Neetish Sarda, managing director, Smartworks. 'Given the strong potential of the Indian market, we are confident in our ability to scale further. Despite operating on a high base, we have maintained a 35 per cent growth rate over the last couple of years, and we expect this momentum to continue.'
The company's oversubscribed IPO, which listed at Rs 445.1 — a near 10 per cent premium to its issue price — taking its market cap to Rs 5,067 crore, follows Awfis Space Solutions, which listed last year and now has a market cap of over Rs 4,662 crore. A slew of public listings by co-working space providers including WeWork India, Indiqube and DevX are in the works, largely driven by the increasing demand for co-working office spaces across markets and sectors. According to Anarock, co-working spaces were the second-highest demand-generating segment for leasing office spaces in the January–June period, during which net office space absorption rose to 26.8 million sq ft, up 40 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
Smartworks is aiming for a self-sustaining growth cycle, driven by strong cash inflows on the back of rising demand for new and Grade A office spaces, alongside co-working and flex spaces. In FY25, the company reported Rs 250 crore in rental revenue. While overall revenue grew sevenfold and cash profits tripled, adjustments under Deloitte's audit process impacted the reported financials, resulting in a net loss of Rs 63 crore for the fiscal year, the company said.
Harsh Binani, executive director, said the company is expanding into high-performing cities beyond the top seven and scaling up its presence with larger buildings and increased capacity, which will add to its current portfolio of 54 offices across 14–17 cities in India, as well as in Singapore. 'In the new cities we're entering, we typically launch with one or two centres.'
Smartworks has a client base of around 728 companies, including prominent names such as Google, Larsen & Toubro, Nothing, Groww and Ernst & Young. The shared office space provider currently offers a total seat capacity of over 2.3 lakh across its centres.
Binani noted that the company has increased its profits 3.5 times and doubled its revenue over the past two years — a momentum it intends to continue. 'We're currently growing 1.5 times faster than any other player in the market, and we expect this momentum to continue.'
With the IPO, the total offer size comprises a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 445 crore and an offer for sale of up to 3,379,740 equity shares by certain existing shareholders. Smartworks has allocated Rs 114 crore from the proceeds for debt reduction and Rs 226 crore for fit-outs.
On Thursday, co-working space provider Smartworks made its stock market debut on the NSE and BSE, following the successful completion of its initial public offering (IPO). The company's shares listed at Rs 436.10 on the BSE, marking a premium of Rs 29.10. On the NSE, the stock opened slightly lower at Rs 435, reflecting a premium of Rs 28 per share.