Embassy Group Ventures Into Coliving Business With INR 1000 Cr Investment

As coliving is gaining a stronger foothold in India,  realty firm Embassy Group will also be entering the space with an investment of INR 1000 Cr by 2021.

The Bengaluru-based group will operate the coliving business under a separate firm called Olive. The group also runs coworking business WeWork India and plans to raise funds for Olive after scaling up further.

Embassy’s newest asset class will launch its first experiential centre in Bengaluru and its flagship project in Chennai with 2500 beds this year. The company plans to expand to Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi NCR over the next few years. “Coliving is the best option for young professionals who do not want to get into long-term commitments of buying a house,” said Kahraman Yigit, cofounder and CEO, Olive, during the launch in Bengaluru on Tuesday (January 21).

During the first phase, 20K beds will be launched in total. Each project will range from 500 to 5K beds and will be customised with diverse formats. “We are going to prove that the concept of digital isolation is wrong. We will be bringing people together using technology,” said Aditya Virwani, COO, Embassy Group and cofounder Olive.

With the shared economy gaining prominence across the sector, the group plans to scale to 100K beds over the next five years depending on the business growth. “Today it is not just the scarcity of spaces or living in congestion that are driving co-living, but also the affordability and flexibility, aspirations of the current generation, transition from owning to sharing, the digital economy and the technological innovation,” Virwani added.

Coliving Startups In India

There are more than 12 coliving startups operating in the Indian market. These startups mostly cater to Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru and the number is expected to grow manifold.

According to JLL-FICCI report, the coliving market in the country is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17% in the next five years where Delhi NCR will constitute nearly 40% of the potential market opportunity by 2023, followed by Mumbai at 25%.

StayAbode, Housr, Colive, Isthara, Hello World and ZoloStays are some of the startups that received funding in 2019. The coliving sector in India is pegged at around $120 Mn. According to RedSeer Consulting, it is set to touch $2 Bn by 2022 as it gets more formalised.

OYO forayed into the coliving segment in 2018 with OYO Life. Rohit Kapoor, CEO of OYO for new real estate businesses told Inc42 earlier that while coliving has always existed in India in myriad forms, it is only recently that this concept has emerged as a new business model for tech startups. There are more than 36Mn students in higher education and the migrant millennial workforce is growing at a rapid pace across metros.