While summer may be beating down harshly in the country, but coolness continues its upsurge in our startup ecosystem with cool startup offices coming up regularly. Motivating employees to beat summer heat, winter dullness, rainy season frenzy, boredom quotient, and Monday blues, is something the following startups are doing really well in these uber-cool offices!
Following up to our previous cool startup offices list, here’s an another stack of startup offices which have climbed up the coolness ladder.
TrulyMadly
Given the fact it wants Indians to unsingle and unwind, no wonder TrulyMadly’s office too is a representation of its beliefs! The office has an open floor-seating plan with no hierarchical structures and is segmented into three zones namely ‘UnRavel’ at the working space, ‘UnSingle’ at the conference area and ‘UnWind’ at the basement cum cafeteria. Iterating the concept of ‘finding love anywhere, the office has an outdoorsy ambiance. A bright yellow staircase, a snack bar constructed in brick tiles, cobbled floor with green patches, graphic framework lights, lofty ceilings, a strategically parked bicycle, and a scrabble inspired wall are some of its features which impart this office a non-office feel!
Razorpay
Payments and finance may be dull and bring topics but that does not mean so should the office of a payment startup. Razorpay’s new office has just added the right amount of colour to the world of finance. The new Bangalore office has a vibrant colour scheme, warm and bright lighting, interesting collaborative pods and seating spaces, a chic pantry, and an in-house gym and nap room has just upped the coolness factor of the payment startup to another level!
Grabhouse
This startup helps you find your desired living pad in the city but its office cold well count as one you would want to live in! Grabhouse’s sprawling 18,000 square feet office in Koramangala is characterised by a narrow alleyway adorned with personalised collages, curated art and murals, glass walls painted with emoticons, a dash of colours in the seating area, brightly hued walls, comfortable bean bags and sofas to do work just like you would sitting in your home!
Chumbak
It is but obvious that a brand which defines kitsch and adds colour and quirk to your life, will have an office that is just defines its character completely! So is Chumbak’s office in Indiranagar which is aptly called the Chumbak studio. It’s a riot of colours, creativity, quirky lights, cool things, colourful sofas, an in-house Labrador Hugo who is pet to the 90+ employees, and a pretty fighter fish called Shiny sitting on a designer’s desk in a glass bowl! If Kitsch has an address , it is this office!
Hike
As per Kavin Mittal, CEO of Hike, the office was conceptualised as a ‘Temple of Excellence’ and based on the 11 Hike Code – the operating principles of Hike. So no cubicles and no designated offices. Everyone, including the leadership team, sits in open space organised by sections such that small cross functional teams of 8-10 people sit together. However, the most impressive feature of this office is the special areas and rooms it has all across. There are areas like the Garden, which is covered with grass-like flooring and immensely comfortable hammocks overlooking the beautiful expanse of Aerocity. The picket or fence, bordering the garden area, was specially designed and built by the Hike team. Impressed much? Then sample this-there is also a meditation room with soundproof walls and signal jammers that offers a peaceful environment to meditate.
nearbuy
2015 has been a year of big deals for Groupon India. From getting a new brand identity and rebranding as nearbuy to landing around $16 Mn from Sequoia Capital. But the biggest deal they landed was moving into a new office in Gurgaon, albeit 50 times bigger than their humble abode in Saket! Located on the Golf Course Road near Sun City, and somewhat distanced from the office traffic rush zooming into Gurgaon every second, nearbuy’s new office is just the place where work meets fun everyday. The new office can accommodate 600 people, has 32 meeting/conference rooms, with every person basking in the luxury of about 84 sq/ft of personal space. That however, does not stop the founders from sitting with their employees, eating with them, or trying a hand at table tennis!
Freshdesk
“May your Monday be epic and your coffee be strong!” goes a popular saying. With Freshdesk’s newly renovated office, strong coffee will hardly be a problem for its employees given the live filter coffee counters! Cloud-based customer support software provider Freshdesk, which is the prime example of Indian SaaS-based startup that has gone global, has added another 60,000 square foot to its existing office in what is its 9th office expansion! A look at its new office clearly exemplifies how the world-class company from India has built a world-class office with a breezy open environment, great food, live filter-coffee counters, standing desks, an indoor game room to play net cricket, an indoor gym, a table tennis room, and lots of collaborative spaces. In fact, the theme of the new office expansion is collaboration.
GrabOn
“Save on Everything” reads a caption on one of the walls of couponing company GrabOn’s new office. But one look at the office and you realise that the startup has spared no effort to make it in the list of quirky-snazzy-offices-of-startups! The new office, spread over 12,000 square feet, is situated in the heart of the city’s Madhapur area, close to the tech-heavy Hitec City area in Hyderabad. One look at the new headquarters and the innovative sleeping pods for its employees and you would agree to the company’s focus on innovation! For instance, the brightly lit and brightly painted Idea Zone, which writable floors and walls to spark unique ideas!
Lookup
Deepak Ravindran, CEO of Lookup wants it to be the Google equivalent for finding products and services offline. No wonder with their new office space, they are climbing up the charts in being as dynamic and cool as their idol Google. The new 5,000 square feet office was completed in about 4 months is based on one core principle- the requirement of flexible, open work spaces for a young, dynamic team.Hence it has only two meeting rooms-a CEO meeting room and a conference room. Rest, the entire workplace is designed to follow a philosophy of flat hierarchy. At the very centre of the office is a semi-circular amphitheatre fondly nicknamed “The Pitch” which is used as a brainstorming arena by day and a recreational hub as night falls!
Triphobo
True to their name, Triphobo’s office is an office which inspires to take a vacation. Designed on the theme of travel, the office has cabins decorated on themes of forest, waterfall, and a beach. The entire office space is dotted with pretty green plants making the place exuberant; also reiterating Triphobo’s eco-friendly initiative. There’s a special space where each one of the employees can deposit and display their travel souvenirs. Adding to the spirit, is a warm camping tent where the team can just chill, day dream or brainstorm, a fishing-rod just outside the beach room, the life-like Kayak mounted on the main wall, beautiful collage of travel photos and a wall with colourful hand-stamps of the entire team.
Did we miss out any of the cool offices? If you think so, drop comments below!!
