Quorum Club Private Ltd, the parent company of luxury members-only club, The Quorum, has closed a secret pre-series A funding round for a 5% equity stake in an investment led by Gruhas, a venture founded in 2021 by Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha and Abhijeet Pai of Puzzolana. Gruhas also focuses on early stage, venture and debt investments in proptech, cleantech, media and entertainment sectors. The club’s existing shareholders including Alok Oberoi, Gurmeet Nihal Singh, Saber Advisors, Shon Randhawa, Sattva Group, and Karanpal Singh also participated in the round from which it also raised another secret friends and family round of investment in 2016 when it was first . set up
With the new fundraising, its next target markets include Bengaluru, Goa, and another sixth club in Delhi over the next few years. The company is also looking to expand its co-working portfolio under The Business Quarter (TBQ) brand, offering hospitality prime workspaces co-located with its clubs. The Hyderabad club will include a 110-seat premium co-working facility and its Mumbai club will expand from 198 seats to 451 seats.
District150, a meetings and events company, also has a pipeline of 8-10 assets in various stages of development within the next five years, partnering with leading institutional developers. The first asset in Hyderabad is a partnership with Sattva Group and Blackstone India Real Estate.
The company first began operations in 2018 with the launch of its first members club in Gurugram, operating under Quorum Club LLP. In 2021, it expanded to Mumbai, taking over operations of another former private members club ‘The A’, a 40,000 square foot workspace and social club in Lower Parel’s One World Centre. This marked their shift towards a broader lifestyle hospitality concept. This month, the company also set up its third club over 80,000 sq ft, in Hyderabad, and has a total of 2.2 lakh sq ft of operational assets across cities.
India has only a select network of luxury clubs, catering to a discerning clientele. These spaces, like Quorum or the Soho House, The Indus Club in Mumbai; Regent Club Bengaluru, all offer social gathering, business networking and advanced amenities. Beyond metropolitan clubs, high-end residential communities like The Camellias Club by DLF in Gurugram also have an exclusive club within its 1.4 lakh sq ft boundaries but for its residents only.
In 2023, the company legally became Quorum Club Pvt. Ltd. Looking beyond members’ clubs, it also launched District150, in the same year. Their first development under this brand is in Hyderabad, where it has partnered with local real estate firm Devbhumi Realtors Pvt. Ltd. (owned by Sattva Group and Blackstone India Real Estate). Quorum Club also operates a 70,000 sq. ft club within the city’s Knowledge City development, along with the same ownership group.
Vivek Narain, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said Mint that the fundraising will prepare it for further expansion over the next two years. “Our business is at an inflection point and this is a pre-institutional round. Our business is very profitable and we’ve been very cash efficient.” In a conversation in 2022, Narain said the company had set aside ₹80-100 crore for its expansion till 2027. The company is spending approx ₹10,000-11,000 per square foot, and that does not include land and building and superstructures of its clubs.
Narain added that there is a huge demand for good meeting and event infrastructure venues driven by wedding demand across cities. Both of its formats are also available to add hotel rooms for travelers to stay and that could be another expansion avenue that the company will explore in the coming years.
The company’s investors look at the increased potential of consumption in the coming years as the main factor of investment. Abhijeet Pai, co-founder and partner of Gruhas, said that consumption is currently at an inflection point in the country. “We also think that proptech needs to become much more intelligent, inclusive and community-centric. These will be places where people will be drawn to become a big community and intellectual horsepower. We think this company solves for the ‘haves’, which are the 1-5 million people in India are looking for a luxury members-only club. Its District150, which is open to maybe 50 million people, is building an even bigger community, making this even more interesting for us to invest in,” he said. .
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Published: 12 Mar 2024, 06:30 IST
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