WeWork India, controlled by Embassy Group, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Mumbai stock exchange.

While the official valuation is unconfirmed, it could reach $2.5B. WeWork India operates independently from the U.S.-based WeWork group and has seen significant revenue growth and profitability. The company manages 50 locations with over 90,000 desks across seven cities in India. They saw 26.7% growth in revenue in 2024 to around $190M, and reported an operating profit of around $20M in first half of 2024.

This IPO comes amidst a booming coworking sector in India, with several other operators also expanding and attracting significant investments. Worth noting that the IPO would not inject cash into the company, but will offer liquidity to the ownership group.

WeWork India faced criticism after a potential customer took to social media to complain about the "arrogant" and "intrusive" sales approach he experienced at their Gurgaon location, where excessive questions were used to "judge" him.

The post went viral, with many users sharing similar experiences. WeWork India CEO Karan Virwani issued a public apology, acknowledging the unacceptable sales tactics and promising immediate changes.

Andrew Butler shares an interesting anecdote from the Regus turnaround through a US Chapter 11. In it the firm sold off their ‘crown jewel’, their UK business which continued to flourish. Once the US bounced back, they returned to buy back the UK business.

Could this be part of the playbook we’ll see WeWork use? Selling off profitable or steady parts of the network (like WeWork India for example) with the goal of buying them back ASAP.

In a quick-fire Q&A with Paras Arora from Qdesk, WeWork India CEO Karan Virwani shared where the local business of the global brand sits, and is aiming to go.

In short they’re currently supporting 70k members via over 90k desks at 50 locations spanning 6.5M sqft in 7 cities. They’re sitting at 81% capacity, are profitable, and are aiming for 8M sqft of capacity by March 2025.

Karan Virwani, CEO at WeWork India, shared that they’d raised Rs 550 crore (which I believe is around $66M) from BPEA Credit for both expansion and future consolidation.