Zolostays eyeing IPO in CY 26: Co-founder Sikri

Turing the corner to post its first profit in quarter one of the current financial year, co-living platform Zolostays, which is presently in the midst of raising $50-100 million through a Series D funding round, is looking to tap the stock market in 2026.

Remarkably, despite his company’s performance, co-founder and chief executive Dr Nikhil Sikri, speaking to DH, admitted to facing increased skepticism from investors in the absence of high profitability amongst peers in the Indian startup ecosystem.

Zolostays registered a 126% year-on-year growth last fiscal and is on track to register an almost 100% growth rate so far into the year, to take its revenue from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,000 crore in gross merchandise value, he added.

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“Hope springs eternal,” Sikri remarked, as he recalled the brand’s journey to over 85% occupancy rates across its properties today versus June of 2021 when the said metric plummeted to as low as 25% in the backdrop of Covid-19.

It will deploy fresh capital from the ongoing fundraising activity towards expansion with an 80% focus in the co-living and student housing segments. The remaining 20% will cater to its hotel and brokerage arms.

With a 98% market share of the co-living and student housing segments in the hands of unorganised players, Sikri sees plenty of room for growth in the existing metro and tier I cities where the player is present. Having built a business on the understanding of urban migration, venturing into tier II/III cities does not feature on his long-term vision priority for Zolostays.

The company is in fact looking at Singapore, Dubai and Indonesia to go international with a pilot for its services within the next 12 months.

Talking about some key trends in the sector, Sikri highlighted growing concern amongst consumers for quality, higher disposable incomes and increased de-densification, which however defy Covid-19 prophecies. Zolostay sees a 70:30 ratio between its shared and single room properties as opposed to 85:15 prior to the pandemic.