For Indian Millennials, everything is just a touch away- be it food, relationships, job opportunities, health queries and now, even a shared home. The co-living business is now taking off in India, where big doses of investment are pouring into app-based co-living facilities like never before.
Thanks to the millions of youngsters migrating to metros every month for higher education and livelihood, India is set to witness a boom in the co-living segment. In fact, the market is projected to be worth more than $2 billion, “with well-funded entrants driving both supply and demand,” by 2022, according to a note by Red Seer Consulting.
A slew of global investors is seen inclining towards co-living segment. Goldman Sachs and Warburg Pincus are some of the biggest names whose global investing have moved in.
“We are attracted by the large market opportunity in India for providing high quality, modern and affordable living spaces targeting students and young professionals,” Anish Saraf, managing director at Warburg Pincus India, told the Nikkei Asian Review. “And we have seen this space grow rapidly across many markets in Asia including China.”
Some of the other investments/funding received in the co-living segment recently are:
- NestAway, a home rental aggregator headquartered in Bangalore, received $51 million from Goldman Sachs last May.
- Stanza Living, a student housing startup in Gurugram, raised $10 million in September in a round led by U.S. firm Sequoia Capital.
- Zolo Stays latest funding round on Jan. 8 drew $30 million from South Korea’s Mirae Asset and Indian private equity firms IDFC Alternatives and Nexus Venture Partners.
- Warburg Pincus announced a joint venture with Indian startup Lemon Tree Hotels plans to invest as much as Rs. 3,000 crore ($426 million) to develop full-service accommodation for students and young working professionals.
- Placio, a student housing platform, secured $2 million in a pre-Series A round from Singapore-based private equity fund Prestellar Ventures.
While the concept of shared living arrangements is not new and is already widespread in India, in the form of paying guest facilities run by landowners, these spaces hardly meet the expectations of the young, millennial population. Modern co-living facilities generally come fully furnished, with Wi-Fi, cleaning, and security.
The services are managed through apps, which let tenants pay rent as well as make requests or file complaints to the service provider.