JLL Spark has invested an undisclosed amount in the flexible workspace aggregator to tap into the burgeoning co-working market in the country

• This marks the first India-focused investment by the proptech focused fund
• Qdesq transacts one co-working seat every 20 minutes and is one of the fastest growing Proptech companies in India

MUMBAI, 19^th SEPTEMBER 2019 (GPN)  – Silicon Valley-based venture capital arm of JLL, JLL Spark, has invested an undisclosed amount in India’s largest flex-space technology platform, Qdesq. Through this investment, the proptech focused fund has marked its first India focused investment, it said in a statement today.

Founded in 2015 by Paras Arora and Lavesh Bhandari, Qdesq is a digital platform that allows companies to transact flexible workspaces, managed workplaces, virtual offices and individual offices. The company lists India’s largest inventory of available flex spaces in near real time and currently transacts one desk every 20 minutes on behalf of corporates looking to avoid locking themselves into long term leases.At present, Qdesq has approximately 2,200 centres, lists over 500,000 desks in near real time, covering the top 35 Indian cities and has rapidly emerged as a dominant distribution channel for co-working operators like WeWork, 91Springboard, AWFIS, Regus, Smartworks, Innov8 and Oyo.

With this investment, the company plans to invest heavily into the analytics capabilities of its technology platform to allow enterprises to better self-solution their future real estate footprint and to allow commercial asset owners to create viable co-working and flex spaces within commercial complexes.

“The investment in Qdesq taps into the growth opportunity that the flexible workspace segment offers. JLL’s strong corporate relationships across the globe, combined with Qdesq’s technology platform and preferred partnerships with flex space operators, will help us provide a more comprehensive solution to our clients across 35 cities in India,” said Ramesh Nair, CEO & Country Head – India, JLL.

Demand from corporates, startups and entrepreneurs in India has resulted in a huge jump in the co-working share in total office leasing. According to a JLL study, the share of co-working office leasing has risen to 15 p ercent in the first six months (January to June) of 2019 from the 8 percent level seen in 2018. The segment has absorbed 10.1 mn square feet of cumulative space since 2017 to the first half of 2019, according to the findings.

“Qdesq sits at the cusp of one of the largest disruptions in commercial real estate. Companies are no longer interested in inefficient leases with long lock-ins. Businesses are increasingly looking for the flexibility to easily expand or contract their footprint. With their comprehensive inventory of real time availability of managed spaces, Qdesq is able to dramatically reduce the lead-time to occupancy for companies,” said Anuj Nangpal, Asia Pacific Lead, JLL Spark.

As per JLL estimates, currently there are approximately 325 to 330 flexible workspace operators in the top seven cities in India. The study finds that the average size of transactions in the co-working segment increased from 37,000 square ft in 2017 to 52,000 sq ft in 2018 and further to 97,000 sq ft in the first half of 2019.

“The average time it takes to close a fixed time lease today is anywhere between three and six months. In comparison, Qdesq is able to close even large enterprise occupancy requirements within days. Our transaction volumes have been growing over 400 percent year-on-ye ar and, with our shared vision with JLL, the opportunity is to scale the platform across Asia,” said Paras Arora, Co-founder of Qdesq. The company recently launched in the Philippines and plans to be present in most of Asia’s gateway cities in the near term.

Qdesq has solutioned real estate occupancy requirements for a wide variety of clients ranging from super high growth technology companies like Zomato, Phonepe and Zerodha to more established corporates like Bank of Baroda, Nagarro and Hyundai. India is one of the largest potential markets for co-working spaces in Asia, second only to China.

NA Shah Associates and Fortitude Law were advisors to the transaction.Ends

About JLL Spark

JLL Spark is dedicated to transforming the real estate industry through technology-based innovation. JLL Spark provides the nimbleness of a startup backed by JLL’s expertise and resources. Led by experienced Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with successful track records building and investing in tech companies, JLL Spark’s strategic proptech investments offer JLL the ability to provide innovative products to real estate owners and operators. JLL Spark was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.jllspark.com

About JLL

JLL is India’s premier and largest professional services firm specialising in real estate. The Firm is growing from strength to strength in India for the past two decades. JLL India has an extensive presence across 10 major cities (Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Kochi and Coimbatore) and over 130 tier II & III markets with a cumulative strength of close to 11,000 professionals.

The Firm provides investors, developers, local corporates and multinational companies with a comprehensive range of services. This includes leasing, capital markets, research & advisory, transaction management, project development, facil ity management and property & asset management. These services cover various asset classes such as commercial, residential, industrial, retail, warehouse and logistics, hospitality, healthcare, senior living and education.

JLL India won the Five Star Award for ‘Best Property Consultancy at the International Property Awards Asia Pacific 2018 -19. The Firm was also recognised amongst the ‘Top 100 Best Places to Work in India’ in 2017 & 2018 in the annual survey conducted by Great Place to Work® and The Economic Times. It has also been acknowledged as ‘Property Consultant of the Decade’ at the 10th CNBC-Awaaz Real Estate Awards 2015. For further information, please visit www.jll.co.in

About Qdesq

Qdesq is India’s largest technology enabled platform for flexible workspace requirements of enterprises, small and medium businesses, startups and individuals. The firm offers verified, brokerage free co-working, managed office spaces across 35+ cities in India, and has recently launched its services in the Philippines. Qdesq is the most comprehensive aggregator of flex-spaces currently listing over 500,000 desks and their availability in near real time. Qdesq also offers an opportunity to workspace providers (offices, landlords, occupiers, business centers, hotels and coworking spaces) to monetize their unused and vacant workspace inventory of work desks, meeting rooms, cabins, and private suites. For more information please visit www.qdesq.com.