Startup Hobnob Raises $1 Million+ Seed Funding From Century Real Estate
Century Real Estate invests in Hobnob, a co-working space with a twist.
Hobnob transforms pubs and cafes into affordable Co-Working Spaces.
Century Real Estate Holdings Pvt Ltd recently invested in Hobnob, a start-up that is transforming spaces in restaurants and cafes in the city into a network of productive co-working spaces. Hobnob, founded by Goverdhan M D and Srinivas Jayaram in July 2018, raised INR 7.3 Crore in the first round from the real estate firm and aims to empower young Indians by providing them with affordable workspaces to fuel their entrepreneurial aspirations.
Hobnob (powered by Kloudboxx) provides a virtual address to its clients who can avail of daily, weekly and monthly passes. A wallet-friendly solution ideal for students/freelancers/start-ups who can apply for flexible memberships with unlimited access to customised menus from restaurants and cafes included in the package. Hobnob co-working spaces are spread across Bangalore at various locations making it more feasible for people to work in their neighbourhood of choice while availing of fast, affordable and reliable internet access.
Speaking about the investment, Mahesh Prabhu, Director, Century Real Estate said, “Investing in Hobnob comes at a time when most professionals are looking at co-working spaces. We are excited as the company apart from targeting professionals, is looking to help anybody with an entrepreneurial spirit in need of an affordable workspace and unlimited internet access. Not only does it utilize underused spaces and provide some relief for coffee shops, restaurants and bars, but it’s also almost infinitely scalable — every city in the world has restaurants that are closed during the day.”
Goverdhan, the founder of Hobnob, said, “Transforming cafés, pubs or restaurants into co-working spaces is a fairly new concept in India. There is a growing demand for co-working spaces and we can focus on transforming the under-utilised and even open spaces in restaurants by providing affordable internet access to students and professionals. We are based out of Bangalore, with nearly 70+ clients on-board and are looking to expand across India. With Century Real Estate as our partner, we can efficiently and effectively scale our operations in other cities and towns.”
About Century Real Estate
Century Real Estate Holdings Pvt. Ltd is an integrated, full-service real estate development company, founded by Dr P. Dayananda Pai and Mr Satish Pai in the year 1973. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company owns a land bank in excess of 3000 acres representing more than USD 2 billion in asset value and a development portfolio of over 20 million square feet comprising hotels, office buildings, residences, educational institutions and integrated townships.
As a group, Century Real Estate is involved in associated sectors such as hospitality, healthcare and education. It holds the unique distinction of having bought land on MG Road for INR 5 per sq. ft. where current market value is about INR 40,000 per sq. ft. The company’s projects include the finest plotted developments and premium luxury condominiums located in and around Bengaluru, with a price range starting from INR 30 Lakh to INR 13 Crore.
Hobnob – A Quick Overview
Hobnob transforms unused spaces into a city-wide network of sophisticated, prolific workspaces where one can interact and work with a wide range of people.
We are based out of Bangalore, with nearly 70+ clients on-board. We want to expand across India. Hobnob partners with spaces that provide comfortable seating, natural lighting and proximity to public transportation. The company has also prioritized spreading its locations across the city, rather than concentrate on one spot, thereby increasing access to hobnob locations across neighbourhoods.
Hobnob is powered by Kloudboxx – a WiFi analytics box that works with an establishment’s existing broadband connection to provide free WiFi network access to customers. Since users are required to sign-in using a social account or mobile number, the establishment gets access to valuable social demographic data, such as the age and gender of customers that use Hobnob, when users connect, how long they stay connected, etc.
Our Kloudboxx also gives our partner establishments an opportunity to expand their social reach. Upon login, the customer is prompted to “like” the company’s Facebook page or follow its Twitter / Instagram account. According to data revealed by Kloudboxx, 87 per cent of people makes purchasing decisions based on input from friends. The average Facebook user has 190 friends and the monetary value of a single “Like” on Facebook amounts to INR 9k (about $135 USD).
In general, more organisations should provide free WiFi. It’s a gesture of goodwill that creates added value in the eyes of the customer even among people who don’t use it. Most organisations already have an Internet connection, and a wireless network even if they only use it for employees and official company business. Kloudboxx enables them to share the network with customers in exchange for free marketing and invaluable customer demographic data.
Hobnob lets you book co-working spaces whenever you need them. The firm charges for a single visit or you can pay for five visits. There’s also a plan allowing 22 visits. The work hours can be spread over one year and you can go to any of Hobnob locations.
“Co-Working space from a Café/Pub Restaurant is fairly a new concept introduced to India, we have couple of competitors operating out in India, who are only focused on Co-Working spaces, with Kloudboxx we have a competitive edge in Terms of a complete solution provided to our clients, as our box would take care of targeted marketing, Location Analytics, Automation Engine, Branded Splash pages, Presence Analytics and our clients get a free registration on Hobnob (Our Innovative co-working platform). Ours is the only product currently in the market which has 3 different revenue sources from a Single Box”
Going Forward
Hobnob is planning to expand to 15 cities in India in the next 2 years, which includes both Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. Currently, we have about 1 unique login per minute into Kloudboxx, we are targeting about 1 login per second in the next 2 years.
We are looking at 1000 Hobnob bookings in a month all over India.
