91springboard is an Indian coworking operator that began in New Delhi and runs coworking hubs across several Indian cities.
This Startup Deep Dive explains what 91springboard does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.
91springboard in Brief
- What it is: 91springboard is an Indian Coworking company.
- Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
- Provides part-time and full-time coworking space, offices and networking to startups, small businesses and larger firms.
- Offers events, value partner services, in-house furniture and IT.
- Added 91university, an entrepreneurship education vertical, and RISE Mumbai, a fintech accelerator with Barclays.
- Funding: About $16.15 million across 4 rounds (Inc42 tracker); another Inc42 article says over $20 million, so reports differ.
91springboard Quick Facts
| Company | 91springboard |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Headquarters | Not disclosed |
| Founders | Varun Chawla, Pranay Gupta, Anand Vemuri, Apurv Agrawal |
| Sector | Coworking |
| Total funding | About $16.15 million across 4 rounds (Inc42 tracker); another Inc42 article says over $20 million, so reports differ |
| Latest round | June 2020, about Rs 45 crore ($5.95 million) from existing investors Pearl Brook Holdings and Al Nour International Holdings |
| Valuation | Not disclosed |
| Website | Not disclosed |
Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.
What Is 91springboard?
91springboard operates in the Coworking space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to 91springboard.
- Provides part-time and full-time coworking space, offices and networking to startups, small businesses and larger firms.
- Offers events, value partner services, in-house furniture and IT.
- Added 91university, an entrepreneurship education vertical, and RISE Mumbai, a fintech accelerator with Barclays.
- Own site claims 34 hubs across eight cities and 27,000+ members (aggregator report; date unclear).
The Origin Story of 91springboard
Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.
- Founders: Varun Chawla, Pranay Gupta, Anand Vemuri, Apurv Agrawal.
- Began as a planned fund-cum-incubator; European investors committing about $1 million pulled out.
- Pivoted in April 2013 to coworking; the venture officially launched in January 2013 in Mohan Estate, New Delhi (CB Insights and Craft say 2012).
- Varun Chawla brought the group together, with Pranay Gupta and Anand Vemuri as co-founders and Apurv Agrawal the first founding member.
- Headquarters reports differ: New Delhi per PitchBook and CB Insights, Mumbai per another listing, North Goa per Indeed and a podcast note about a 2018 move.
Key Milestones and Challenges
No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Coworking sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.
- October 2013: Gurugram hub opened.
- March 2014: Kavuri Hills, Hyderabad hub opened.
- August 2015: Koramangala, Bengaluru hub opened.
- October 2016: Akruti Trade Centre hub in Andheri East, Mumbai opened with about 1,000 member capacity.
- By Q3 2016: about 650 startups and 3,000+ members across hubs.
- June 2020: raised Rs 45 crore from existing investors and claimed company-level profitability.
91springboard Funding and Investors
Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.
- August 2016: undisclosed round from Khattar Holdings, ThirtyThree Investments and others.
- September 2017: Series A, amount undisclosed, led by Al Nour with four other investors.
- December 2018: Series B of $10.2 million from FreakOut Holdings and another investor.
- June 2020: $5.95 million (Rs 45 crore) from Pearl Brook Holdings and Al Nour International Holdings.
How Does 91springboard Make Money? (Business Model)
A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.
- Earns from coworking memberships and desk and office rentals.
- Additional income from events, partner services, furniture and IT.
- Education and accelerator verticals supplement coworking revenue.
The Numbers: 91springboard Financials
Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.
- FY25: no figures found.
Market Opportunity for 91springboard
Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.
- Competes in Indian flexible workspace with startups and SMEs as the core base.
- Operators with enterprise focus have grown faster through IPOs.
Technology and Product at 91springboard
Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.
- Core capability: Public detail on 91springboard’s technology stack is limited beyond company-stated descriptions.
- Assessment lens: product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.
Team and Culture at 91springboard
Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.
- Deepak Sharma, a former Citigroup private banking executive, invested in 2014 and chairs the board.
- Anuj Pulstya was a co-founder who left in September 2016.
- Team of about 100 as of 2016.
91springboard Competitors: Competitive Landscape
A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.
| Competitor | How it differs |
|---|---|
| Awfis | Named by an aggregator as its biggest rival. |
| Innov8 | OYO-owned coworking brand. |
| CoWrks | Bengaluru workspace provider. |
| BHIVE Workspace | Bengaluru coworking operator. |
| GoWork | Indian flex-office operator. |
| Smartworks | Listed managed workspace operator. |
Risks and Challenges for 91springboard
- Smaller scale than listed rivals and slower recent funding.
- Unclear headquarters and inconsistent public financial data.
- Heavy dependence on startup and SME demand.
- Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
- Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.
Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.
91springboard Growth Outlook: What to Watch
- No recent funding after June 2020 was found in the sources read.
- Future depends on growth against listed and better funded operators.
- Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
- Funding position: Whether 91springboard can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
- Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.
Industry Context: Where 91springboard Fits
India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.
Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.
For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.
Bull Case and Bear Case for 91springboard
An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for 91springboard.
Bull case
- A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
- Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
- Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.
Bear case
- Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
- Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
- Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.
Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from 91springboard
Studying a company in the Coworking space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about 91springboard.
- Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
- Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
- Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
- Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
- Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.
How to Evaluate 91springboard as a Startup
- Customer clarity: Can 91springboard name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
- Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
- Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
- Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
- Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
- Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
- Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
- Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.
The Takeaway
91springboard is part of India’s growing Coworking ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.
- Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
- Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
- Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.
91springboard FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions
What is 91springboard?
91springboard is an Indian coworking operator that began in New Delhi and runs coworking hubs across several Indian cities. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.
Who founded 91springboard?
91springboard was founded by Varun Chawla, Pranay Gupta, Anand Vemuri, Apurv Agrawal, and the company reports a founding year of 2013.
How much funding has 91springboard raised?
About $16.15 million across 4 rounds (Inc42 tracker); another Inc42 article says over $20 million, so reports differ. Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.
How does 91springboard make money?
91springboard earns revenue from its Coworking products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.
Who are the competitors of 91springboard?
Reported rivals include Awfis, Innov8, CoWrks, BHIVE Workspace. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.
What are the main risks for 91springboard?
Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.
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Source
Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.




