The Silicon Review ^Asia

OYO Hotels & Homes has taken over Innov8, a co-working venture, The Economic Times reported. The hospitality company formally announced the acquisition while stating that it was planning to expand its reach to 50 centers by the end of fiscal year.

“Work spaces are a natural extension for us. The skill-sets and capabilities are quite common. We have the people, talent, technology and a great customer base to leverage, who are accessing multiple services,” one of the top level executive of OYO was quoted as saying  by ET.

According to ET reports, as of January, Innov8 is believed to be valued at Rs 200 crore. The move by OYO marks its first acquisition in the real-estate sector.

The acquisition will also see 150 employees of Innov8 working with OYO.  In India, the co-working sector is still nascent and is ruled by the likes of WeWork, Sequoia Capital-backed Awfis Space Solutions and 91 springboard.

Various industry reports say that different Co-working companies have hardly forayed into the overall Indian commercial and office real estate space, which is valued to be between $30-$33 billion.

The new acquisition will allow OYO to scale faster with its current inventory, while Innov8 will expand further along with OYO in the developing co-working business in India.

Apart from the acquisition, OYO said that it will pump in Rs 1,400 crore for developing its India and South Asia business. The move is a part of its expansion plans across business segments.