The global pandemic has transformed the traditional office, moving away from impersonal cubicles toward vibrant, welcoming environments. This shift, often referred to as ‘hotelisation’, is redefining how we perceive and interact with our workplaces.

Picture an office that feels less like a place of work and more like a luxury hotel complete with cosy lounges, lush greenery and even concierge services. What might have once seemed aspirational is now becoming the norm for forward-thinking organisations.

The rise of hotelisation

As companies encourage employees to return to the office, they are turning to the hospitality industry for inspiration.

The hotelisation concept is about creating spaces that prioritise employee well-being and satisfaction. Gone are the days when offices were merely functional; today’s workplaces are designed to be destinations that enhance productivity and foster creativity.

Imagine entering your workspace, greeted by the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, soft lighting, and comfortable seating that invites interaction. A workplace where modern meeting rooms, equipped with the latest technology, await your next breakthrough idea. This is the essence of hotelisation—a holistic approach to workspace design that integrates the luxury and service typically associated with high-end hotels.

Comfort and community at the core

At the heart of this trend is a renewed focus on employee comfort. Companies are investing in ergonomic furniture, adaptable lighting, and climate control systems tailored to individual preferences. These changes are about more than just aesthetics; they are about creating an environment where employees feel valued and engaged.

But comfort and community extend beyond the physical workspace. A crucial aspect of this transformation is recognising the value of people. By building diverse teams, companies not only foster inclusivity but also gain a wider range of perspectives, helping them better understand client needs and create adaptable, inclusive workspaces.

Hotelised offices are also blurring the lines between work and leisure. Imagine taking a break in a rooftop garden or decompressing in a meditation room after a series of meetings. These spaces not only promote relaxation but foster a sense of community often missing in traditional office setups. By encouraging social interaction, such environments create a deeper connection between colleagues—fostering teamwork and collaboration.

Technology meets hospitality

However, hotelisation isn’t just about comfort and design—it’s underpinned by technology. High-speed WiFi, smart meeting rooms, and personalised workplace apps have become essential to creating seamless, productive environments. These technologies streamline daily operations, allowing employees to focus on what truly matters: their work. In these spaces, outdated equipment and inefficient processes are replaced with tools that empower individuals and teams to excel.

The Indian context: A cultural fit

In India, this trend resonates deeply with the country’s long-standing tradition of hospitality. The ancient Sanskrit phrase “Atithi Devo Bhava,” meaning “the guest is god,” reflects an ethos that naturally extends into business environments. Coworking spaces across India are adopting hotel-like features—offering concierge services, wellness programmes, and well-stocked kitchens—to create inviting atmospheres where employees feel supported and appreciated.

A new era for workspaces

As we look ahead, it’s clear that hotelisation will continue to shape the future of workspaces. Companies that prioritise employee well-being through personalised and flexible environments will not only attract top talent but also cultivate a more engaged workforce. A critical part of this approach is ensuring that these workspaces cater to diverse needs, both in terms of design and the workforce they serve.

In essence, the office of tomorrow promises to be more than just a place to clock in hours; it will be a sanctuary where individuals thrive both personally and professionally. As we navigate this new era of work, one thing is certain: the boundaries between work and hospitality are blurring, paving the way for dynamic environments that evolve with the needs of employees and the companies that champion them.

(Anshu Sarin is CEO of 91Springboard India.)

Quick commerce player Zepto has raised another $350 million in a funding round led exclusively by Motilal Oswal’s Private Wealth division, along with investment from Indian HNIs and family offices. 

The round saw participation from Motilal Oswal AMC, Claypond Capital, Raamdeo Agarwal, along with family offices of the Taparias, Mankind Pharma, RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, Cello, Haldiram Snacks, Sekhsaria, Kalyan, Happy Forgings, and Mothers Recipe (Desai Brothers).

The round, one of the largest domestic fundraises for a private startup in the country, comes just three months after Zepto closed its extended capital infusion with an investment of $340 million at a $5 billion valuation. This is Zepto’s third round in the last six months.

In June this year, it raised $665 million from new and existing investors, adding Avenir, Lightspeed and Avra to its captable. It currently operates more than 550 dark stores across 17 cities. 

The latest round, which takes the total fundraise this year to $1.35 billion, also witnessed participation from celebrities like Abhishek Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. 

“Motilal Oswal is a strong believer in the future of digital businesses, particularly quick commerce players like Zepto, as potential free cash flow powerhouses, “ noted Ashish Shanker, MD and CEO, Motilal Oswal Private Wealth in a press note. 

Earlier this week, Motilal Oswal Financial Services marked its coverage on Swiggy with a neutral rating. The brokerage flagged that Zepto holds a higher market share than Swiggy in the quick commerce segment. Based on Q1 FY25 numbers, Blinkit is leading with a 46% market share, while Zepto and Instamart both hold 29% and 25% market share, respectively. 

This comes just days after Zepto announced its plans to roll out Zepto Cafe nationwide as the service exceeded more than Rs 160 crore annualised revenue run-rate, with 15% of the company’s dark store network sustaining at the unit economics level. It expects to build the cafe into a Rs 1,000 crore revenue business by next year by launching more than 100 new cafes every month. 

Focus on Cafe services out of its quick commerce arm is in line with Zepto pushing up average order values on the platform, with users ordering small snacks and drinks along with larger grocery orders.  

This comes as investors and analysts closely track category mix and average order value across platforms in a space that is seeing traction from larger ecommerce spaces as well as retail giants.

EV maker Bounce Infinity has been no stranger to pivots. From starting out in 2014 as a premium bike rental company which offered two-wheelers across a range of brands from Harley Davidson to Ducati to later becoming a scooter rental service in 2016, the team has worn multiple caps. 

In 2018, the company adopted a dockless bike-sharing model which allowed users to drop their vehicles after use within the city limits. However, it was severely hit by the pandemic, which halted urban mobility. 

Finally in 2021, Bounce entered the EV ecosystem and has since managed to significantly narrow its net losses consecutively until FY23. The company is yet to file its FY24 results, but according to Vivekananda Hallekere, CEO and co-founder of Bounce, it turned EBIT positive in September for the first time and is on track to clock in Rs 100 crore in revenue in FY25. 

In a conversation with YourStory, Hallekere details Bounce’s overseas ambitions and how it intends to double down on its business-to-business (B2B) offerings amidst a boom in the e-commerce and quick commerce space. 

YS: India’s electric mobility space is seeing intense competition. How is Bounce Infinity hoping to stay ahead of the curve in this ecosystem?

Vivekananda: Our learnings from managing a fleet of 30,000 scooters in our ride-sharing business, covering over 200 million kilometres, gave us an in-depth understanding of what is required in electric two-wheelers. So we’ve built our scooters like a platform where we can keep moving up in terms of the battery tech and motor tech. We don’t have to redo the whole vehicle. We made certain design choices very early in our journey which makes us stay very agile and flexible.

We are probably the only Indian OEM today which has been able to integrate with battery swapping operators. So today for any delivery use case where gig workers don’t have space to park their vehicle and charge their scooter, they can use our scooters. That is one thing we have done. 

Second is the battery swapping itself, where we have integrated with multiple battery swapping operators. So you can just come, start riding, you don’t have to worry about range, you don’t have to worry about where to charge, and you pay, it’s like a variable cost, and you don’t have to worry about battery life, warranty, etc. So these things have helped us focus on certain use cases, without having to burn a lot of money.

YS: How are you hoping to expand your business-to-consumer (B2C) services, going forward?

Vivekananda: There is intense competition in the B2C segment today. Everyone is losing at a bomb cost level, which means that you should have had a lot of money in the bank, as in you should have raised a lot of funds, or you can’t do this. So we have taken a different approach. 

For the first two years, we focused on B2C, and we sold across India to dealers, etc. But once this marketing and burn intensified, we started focusing on use cases where people need high uptime, high reliability, and flexibility in terms of solution. So we have gone after those use cases. One of such use cases is the B2B use case that we are talking about. In the last two quarters, we worked closely with logistics companies and quick commerce companies. 

We recognised challenges faced by gig workers, like lack of credit and charging infrastructure and the company developed a plug-and-play EV leasing solution for logistics firms.

By offering long-term leases that include vehicle maintenance, insurance, and energy costs at 30% lower than alternatives, they remove vehicle ownership hurdles. This enables logistics firms to scale rapidly by hiring workers without vehicles and promotes loyalty by offering lease-to-own options for gig workers.

We’ve solved the scooter part of the equation, where they sign up long-term leases. Now the logistics company can go find people who don’t have a scooter to work with them. So in the last quarter, we have added close to 3,000 scooters for them.

We have offered a seamless long-term lease solution, managing everything from vehicle recovery to ownership transfer. Gig workers can even own the vehicle in 26-48 months, which fosters loyalty and ease for delivery companies.

YS: All models of Bounce Infinity have a detachable battery to accommodate battery swapping. How do you think the battery swapping ecosystem in India is growing today?

Vivekananda: We have two large operators, BatterySmart and Sun. BatterySmart is built on e-rickshaw versus model. So, they’re primarily strong in markets where e-rickshaw is already out there running. But the difference between a battery swapping for e-rickshaw versus two-wheeler delivery is the uptime and reliability and other things. An e-rickshaw might be okay to have some downtime. An e-rickshaw is a low-speed vehicle while two-wheelers are high- speed vehicles. 

Previously, we operated our swapping infrastructure during our ride-sharing days, but we now focus on private networks, offering solutions for clients like bike taxi companies. Today, the market is aware of what is battery swapping, what is the pricing of battery swapping that works for a gig worker. With growing awareness among gig workers and increasing demand, battery swapping is gaining traction.

Over the next 12-18 months, major players like Jio and Shell are expected to enter the space, which will boost investment in this capital-intensive sector, currently dominated by just two well-funded operators.

YS: What is the path forward for Bounce?

Vivekananda:: So we think the delivery ecosystem is going to be a good market. So we will come up with more products which make sense for different use cases. It can be a low speed one, it can be a mid speed one with battery or with battery swapping. We will also come up with some fixed batteries also for certain use cases. We are not married to one school of thought. I think each use case needs a particular solution. So we will come up with those solutions. 

Then another key piece that we will try and do is how to make electric scooters a shareable asset in a way by helping companies own vehicles with ease and through transparent lending. 

YS: What are your plans for the B2C segment?

Vivekananda: So we will let it organically grow for now. Because we have about 20,000 users who have bought our models and are very happy. Whatever we innovate, we will offer B2C as well. But we won’t go after discounting or aggressive pricing. We will try to be very logical about the

price point to the end user. 

For example we have liquid cooled fast charge batteries for B2C use cases, which are portable and fast charging. We are now looking at LFP fast charging solutions and smaller batteries for B2C use cases where the utilisation is less. 

We were the first to say that we don’t need a 4 kWh battery for B2C use

case. A 1.9 kWh battery with 60-70 kWh range is good enough. The whole industry actually followed that. So we will go further down in the energy that a user needs which will enable them to bring down the cost of a vehicle that way. 

YS: Could you elaborate on your recent partnership with SUN Mobility to deploy 30,000 e-scooters?

Vivekananda: We partner with SUN to offer scooters integrated with their battery swapping solution. Logistics companies pay us for the vehicles and SUN for energy. This model eliminates the need for SUN to buy vehicles directly.

So far, we’ve deployed over 4,000 scooters on SUN’s network. I think we are now looking at it to be not too dependent on SUN to pick up these vehicles and are scaling independently, with a current deployment run rate of 1,500-2,000 scooters per month.

YS: How flexible is Bounce when it comes switching between battery swapping platforms depending on a customer’s preference?

Vivekananda: Today when we work with SUN Mobility, the scooters that are deployed under this partnership’s battery swapping infrastructure can work only with SUN Mobility’s batteries unless we change the connectors. But our scooters are adaptable and if requested, we can seamlessly transition the vehicle for other battery swapping operators like Battery Smart. 

It’s like in a way the portability of telecom operators. You can’t for every call choose between Airtel versus Vodafone, but you make a conscious choice that I want to move from Airtel to Vodafone. So, we have built that flexibility on the scooter because of which we are able to remove the risk of being married to a battery swapping operator both from a buyer point of view and a company. So, we do deep integrations and we work with SUN. 

YS: Could you help me understand when do you see the company becoming profitable?

Vivekananda: In September, we became EBIT positive, covering all costs, including interest, which is a milestone for an OEM. We have strong exports and a lean operation that focuses on the product. We aim to remain EBITDA positive and achieve net profitability within two quarters while doubling our turnover.

YS: How do you think the company’s top-line numbers will look like in FY25?

Vivekananda: This March, if we go at the current run rate, we should be at Rs 100 crores plus of annual revenue. If we get to double down, I think there is a high chance that we can get to an annualised revenue rate of Rs 150 to Rs 200 crore.

YS: What are Bounce’s plans in terms of overseas expansion?

Vivekananda: We were very bullish on Europe, but Europe has gone through its own ups and downs. All the quick commerce companies have not sustained there. But two years ago, we were thinking of Europe to be one of our major markets. Our scooters are European Union certified scooters. Because of this certification, we are able to sell it in a bunch of markets such as the Philippines, and Africa. We have been selling our vehicles in South Africa for almost a year now. 

We sell our scooters at about $2,000-$2,300, which is attractive for both us and the buyer. Bounce competes with China’s NIU in this market. However, we perform better and are more economical and highly rugged because it (the scooter) was built for Indian roads. 

In the Middle East, we have a high speed variant, which is a 90 kmph top speed variant, which we are making now. Now we are selling the current variants, but the Middle East has this need for high speed. Because of the highways and minimum speed requirement. So, we have a 90 kmph data product, which we are releasing for the Middle East market.

About 5-10% of our total revenue from operations are coming from exports, but at a very high margin as of now. So, we think we have still not invested on the marketing and distribution part of it for exports. But this year, we are going to double down on it. We are looking at more countries in the Middle East including Dubai and Abu Dhabi. 

YS: Do you see Bounce being in the market to raise more funds any time soon?

Vivekananda: I think we will figure out the timing. Since we are now an EBIT-positive company, we are looking at a range of options including IPO markets and private credit and figuring out where we should deploy the funds. While we are not actively raising capital right now, we remain open to opportunities with the right investors.