Smartworks opens flagship centre in Bengaluru; debuts Smart Mitri, the world’s first AI enabled She-robot

Bengaluru, December 6th, 2018: Smartworks, India’s largest agile workspaces player today launched its flagship facility in Bengaluru. Spread over 3 lakh sq. ft., with 6,000 seats, this is the firm’s largest centre located in Global Technology Park (GTP), Bellandur. One of the key highlights of the flagship centre is the introduction of ‘Smart Mitri’, the world’s first female AI robot. Smart Mitri will be Smartworks’ in-house productivity mascot and will play an influential role in handling the overall office management for the facility, ranging from the visitor system to being a counsellor eventually. This is a first time in the world that a co-working firm is introducing robotic technology to the co-working management eco-system.

This is Smartworks second facility in Bengaluru, the first being in Cessna Business Park. GTP has received a tremendous response, with more than 60 percent of the space having been pre-booked by leading enterprises including Deluxe with 1200 seats, Altron with 220 seats and Playgames 24X7 with 450 seats.

The Smartworks facility is a combination of modern aesthetics with the latest technology and a high emphasis on safety, wellness and productivity. Built across seven floors, it features smartly configured floor plans designed to promote employee productivity in a collaborative environment. It is designed to have plenty of natural light that has been proven to reduce stress, improve emotional health, increase productivity, and boost mood. It features fully glazed fire-rated lift lobby doors, marble-finished double height lobbies, green feature wall and fresh air filter for AHUs providing 0.25 Micron filtration.

Commenting on the launch, Neetish Sarda, Founder Smartworks said, “Smartworks is tapping the vast potential of India’s tech capital by building its futuristic office experience in Bengaluru on an unrivalled scale.” Speaking about the distinct edge that Smartworks provides, Neetish added, “Unlike other agile workplaces, Smartworks offers its clients a cost advantage of up to 30 – 40 % achieved through technology intervention that keep operating costs low. Our key focus remains on providing spaces that are modern, technology-rich, productive, collaborative, safe and promote wellbeing so that employees feel taken care of. Bengaluru has and will be a key market for us and we have plans to increase our presence here by ten-fold in the next few years.”

With the launch of the Belladur facility, Smartworks now has a total portfolio of 2 million sq.ft. across India. The firm plans to expand their workspace portfolio to 10 million sq. ft. within the next 3-4 years.

The GTP facility marks the way forward for bigger and better technology innovations in the workplace for Smartworks. As the Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru, has emerged as the Co-working capital of the world. Over the past few years, the city has witnessed massive adoption of the concept of co-working/agile office spaces, with companies and employees finding a co-working culture not just rhythmic to their working style, but also a key enhancer of productivity. As a tech park with state-of-art facilities such as crèche, meditation room, gym, angry man room, sleeping pods, connectivity, vending machines, employee engagement activities, multi cuisine food court and an enhanced user experience, GTP is a much sought after location for enterprises looking to establish or expand their footprint in the city.

Present at the launch of the Smartworks Bengaluru facility was Balaji Viswanathan, CEO of Invento Robotics, a Bengaluru based start-up and the brainchild behind Smart Mitri. Speaking at the event, he said, “It’s a great day for us today, to see our invention come to life! We would like to congratulate Smartworks on their vision to transform robot fantasy and fiction into robot reality with Smart Mitri as their visitor concierge. Smartworks is bringing this reality to life by expanding the possibilities for innovation.”

“Productivity and employee engagement are big focus areas for every employer today. In the knowledge era, the traditional approach to employee engagement and productivity needs to be turned on its head. Invento in partnership with Smartworks is finding new ways to enhance these interventions. The Mitra AI robots are a key element to making this a reality!” he added.

Smartworks has been on an expansion drive in Southern and Western India since the beginning of this year. The competition of Smartworks include WeWork, Cowrks, AWFIS among others. The firm is India’s preferred choice for top enterprises with these companies accounting for 90% of its seats. It is India’s only profitable co-working space player of its size.

With 20 locations across 9 cities, the firm caters to more than 500+ organizations across large enterprises, SMEs, start-ups. Select marquee clients that work out of its centres include Tata Communications, Microsoft, Arcelor Mittal, Amazon, Carrier, Otis, Daikin, Lenovo, Bacardi, and OLX.