How An NRI Created The Most Formidable WeWork Competitor In India

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The NRI community in the US has powered quite a few success stories with its talent and support. It’s perhaps the largest and the most diverse non-resident community across the world that backs its members in all-conditions. One such story is that of BHIVE Workspace, a start-up that grew with the support of the close-knit NRI community in the US.

Shesh Rao Paplikar, an NRI who decided to return to India after spending 8 years in the US, went on to build BHIVE Workspace, the largest co-working brand in the country. The support of the NRI community in the US proved crucial in helping BHIVE reach the heights despite a complex ecosystem and global competition.

Today, BHIVE is the most well-known co-working brand in India that competes head-on with global competitors like WeWork. BHIVE has been able to give up to 10X returns to its investors, and the company’s exponential growth is going to further enhance the value for all its stake-holders.

BHIVE Coworking space in Bangalore is a start-up ecosystem that provides affordable office spaces to businesses. From entrepreneurs to start-ups to freelancers, it offers a range of facilities that enable individuals and businesses to co-work, connect, collaborate, communicate and commercialize their ideas. The prospects BHIVE Workspaces offer rise beyond infrastructural needs. It provides start-ups the opportunity to network, ideate, synergize and seek advice from in-house mentors, as well as each other. Moreover, frequent events that take place at BHIVE provide individuals the opportunity to learn, grow and give.

Simply put, BHIVE WorkSpaces are a start-up melting pot from where great ideas grow to become greater businesses.

BHIVE takes a lot of pride in calling itself the first movers in the co-working space in country in the year 2014. BHIVE currently has a user base of more than 200 members across its centers in Bengaluru. Its existing members include elite companies like Amazon, Real Soft, PayTM NDTV, Uber etc.

BHIVE’s mission is to be India’s largest provider of accessible, quality plug ‘n’ play work spaces across multiple locations, for entrepreneurs and small or medium sized teams.

BHIVE Workspace has expanded to over 100,000 square feet of office space with 10 centres across Bangalore with a unit level profitability of 20%. With its focus on unit economics, BHIVE claimed to be profitable with all of its current centers. Founded by ex-Bloomberg executive Shesh Rao Paplikar in 2014, BHIVE has organized over 500 bespoke events along with more than 12,000 startup enthusiasts.

BHIVE has stepped up the level of hospitality and technology-enabled services at its centers. One of the key innovations by BHIVE has been its Internet technology, BuzzNet, which has attained the reputation of being the most reliable workspace internet in the country. The company is also integrating IoT and AI into its workspace technology to enhance the member experience.

BHIVE has focused on creating experiences and inspiring its community to excel at work. To this end, last year, BHIVE roped in actor-director Ramesh Aravind as its brand ambassador and launched an inspiration series. The videos were watched by over 10M people and helped BHIVE connect with a community much larger than its member-base.

You can check the videos by visiting the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtIh6HpyDG35yC88igLmk9w

In May 2016, it raised about $1 million in a funding round led by Blume Ventures. Prior to that BHIVE had raised investments from the likes of Raghunandan G (founder, TaxiForSure), Rajesh Rai (venture capitalist and co-founder, Venturesity), Arihant Patni (Managing Director, Hive Technologies), Sanjay Mirchandani (Owner, Mirchandani Group), Arun Narayan (Director, UK India Business Council), and others.

Ashish Fafadia, CFO of Blume Ventures said, “Since the first round, BHIVE continues to grow with a focus to help build and create great workplaces with best-in-class global standards for Indian corporates and office goers. Key strengths of BHIVE include the focus on creating experiences and making themselves relevant for virtually all organizations, regardless of their size and form.”

After dominating the Indian market, Shesh plans to bring the BHIVE brand to the US with the goal of providing a strong alternative to US based co-working spaces. He believes that BHIVE’s superior hospitality global community and state-of-the-art technology will help Americans enjoy a more productive and vibrant workplace.

Over the years, BHIVE has designed workplace experiences that its competitors haven’t been able to match. It has focused on productivity and hospitality as its key differentiators, along with technology. BHIVE’s BuzzNet is the fastest and the most reliable workplace Internet.

BHIVE plans to step up the level of hospitality and technology-enabled services at its US centers. One of the key innovations by BHIVE has been its Internet technology, BuzzNet, which they said has attained the reputation of being the most reliable workspace internet in the country. The company is also integrating IoT and AI into its workspace technology to enhance the member experience.

BHIVE is now inviting NRIs to support its US expansion. To help more people participate in BHIVE’s American dream, it is offering flexible investment options including debt and equity. It’s also organizing two events and interested people can RSVP by emailing their contact to investor.relations@bhiveworkspace.com or WhatsApp +91-8861-889-379

Details of the events are as below:
Event in Jersey City at Journal Square is on Saturday April 14th 5pm to 9pm.
Event in New York City is near Union Square on Friday April 20th 6:30pm to 9:30pm.

During these events you will be able to connect with Shesh Rao and get a deeper insight into his plans and progress.

For more information you can visit our website: https://bhiveworkspace.com

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