In September 2025, an Ahmedabad company that rents out desks raised ₹143 crore ($14.9 million at $1 ≈ ₹96.0), listed on both Indian exchanges, and became the fourth coworking business to go public in India inside eighteen months. A year later its shares changed hands near ₹35 — roughly 40% below the ₹61 issue price — even though its revenue had just grown 42%.
That gap between a healthy income statement and a sliding share price is the whole story of Dev Accelerator Limited, the company that trades as DevX. It is the smallest of India’s listed flex-space operators, it is profitable, it is growing fast off a small base, and the market is not sure what to pay for any of that. This piece walks through what DevX sells, how it got here, where the money comes from, and the specific risks the company itself flags.
Quick facts
| Company | Dev Accelerator Limited (brand: DevX), Ahmedabad, Gujarat |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Founders | Parth Shah, Rushit Shah, Umesh Uttamchandani |
| Businesses | Managed and co-working office space; design & fit-out execution; payroll & facility management; IT/ITeS services |
| Latest FY revenue | ₹225.92 crore in FY26 (year ended March 2026), up 42.2% (Business Standard, as per company results) |
| Latest FY profit | Consolidated PAT ₹8.80 crore in FY26, up 402.9% from ₹1.75 crore in FY25 (Business Standard) |
| Listed | 17 September 2025, NSE and BSE (ticker DEVX) |
| Market value | About ₹332–340 crore as of 22–25 September 2026 (Screener; market data aggregators) |
| Last private valuation | $34.03 million as of 5 February 2024 (Inc42/Tracxn) |
What DevX actually does
DevX rents large floors of office space on long leases, fits them out, and sub-lets them as ready-to-use workspaces — hot desks, private cabins, and whole managed offices — on shorter, flexible contracts. The spread between what it pays landlords and what it charges occupiers, once a centre fills up, is the business. It sits in the same category as Awfis, Smartworks and IndiQube, but it leans deliberately into smaller cities alongside the metros.
- Core product: managed offices and co-working seats for startups, small firms and enterprise back-offices.
- Footprint (as per the company’s RHP, as of 31 May 2025): 28 centres across 11 cities, 14,144 seats over 860,522 sq ft (about 8.6 lakh sq ft), and 250-plus clients.
- Cities span metros and Tier-2 hubs — Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Pune, Hyderabad and others (RHP; Inc42).
- Named clients include Zomato, WhiteOak, Tim Hortons, Hitachi and Darwinbox (DRHP, via Inc42).
- Beyond seats, DevX also sells design-and-build fit-out work, payroll and facility management, and IT services — ancillary lines that lean on the same client base (company results, September 2026).
The origin: three friends and a Tier-2 hunch
DevX started in Ahmedabad in 2017, founded by Parth Shah, Rushit Shah and Umesh Uttamchandani. Rushit and Parth had known each other since childhood; Parth is an MBA who worked as a consultant, Rushit is an engineer, and Umesh came from a consulting background too. Between them they had spent years inside IT companies, and they kept noticing the same thing at home: Gujarat had founders and capital, but nowhere for a young company to sit, meet investors and grow without signing a punishing commercial lease.
So the first version of DevX was less a real-estate play than a community one — an accelerator-style space that put startups, mentors and investors under one roof, in a city the big coworking brands had ignored. The insight that became the whole company was simple: flexible workspace demand was not confined to Bengaluru and Gurugram, and a first mover in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat could own those markets before anyone larger bothered to show up. The name Dev Accelerator is a fossil of that founding idea, even as the business grew into straightforward managed offices.
The struggle years
Growth in physical space is expensive and slow, and the numbers show DevX spent years underwater before the model turned. Two moments stand out, both documented in its own filings and contemporary coverage.
The first was the pandemic. As per YourStory’s reporting in 2021, the Ahmedabad-based startup had to keep going through a period when offices emptied out and coworking — a business built on people physically showing up — looked like one of the worst places to be. Occupancy is everything in this model: a leased, fitted-out floor that sits half empty still owes full rent and full depreciation.
The second, and it is written plainly in the DRHP, is that DevX simply lost money for years as it expanded. In FY23 (the year ended March 2023) the company posted a loss of ₹12.8 crore on revenue from operations of ₹69.91 crore (DRHP, via Inc42). Every new centre carried heavy upfront fit-out cost and depreciation before it filled, so scaling faster meant deeper losses first. There was no guarantee the ramp would ever cross into profit; plenty of flex operators globally never did. DevX’s early funding was a mix of debt and equity, which added interest cost on top of the lease and depreciation drag.
The turning point: from loss to listing
The pivot from cash-burning expansion to a public listing happened in a single, measurable window — FY24 to FY25 — and the numbers on either side are stark. In FY23 DevX lost ₹12.8 crore. In FY24 it turned profitable for the first time, posting a profit after tax of about ₹43.7 lakh on revenue of ₹108.08 crore, up 55% year-on-year (DRHP, via Inc42). The thin profit mattered less than the sign flip: the ramp had crossed break-even.
That single year of profitability is what made the IPO possible. DevX first filed its draft papers with SEBI on 30 September 2024; the regulator returned them in early 2025; the company refiled with a larger fresh issue and finally opened its offer on 10 September 2025 (Inc42). It priced at the top of the ₹56–61 band, raised ₹143 crore entirely as fresh equity with no offer for sale, and listed on 17 September 2025 — the fourth coworking operator to reach the Indian public markets after Awfis, IndiQube and Smartworks (Inc42; Business Standard). One loss-making year turned into a decade-defining listing in the space of about eighteen months.
The money behind it
Before the IPO, DevX was a modestly funded company by startup standards — it raised in small increments and stayed close to profitability rather than burning through mega-rounds.
- Seed round, 30 April 2019: $1.00 million (Inc42/Tracxn).
- Venture round, April 2023: $3.00 million, led by Ardeko with others (Inc42/Tracxn).
- Venture round, February 2024: $7.00 million in a debt-and-equity mix, led by the Urmin Group, for domestic and global expansion (Inc42; Coworking Europe).
- Round dated 8 September 2025: about $7.16 million, led by Finavanue — effectively at the IPO.
- Total funding: $18.16 million across four rounds as of 9 September 2025 (Inc42/Tracxn).
- Last reported private valuation: $34.03 million as of 5 February 2024 (Inc42/Tracxn) — unconfirmed by audited disclosure, so treat it as an investor-round mark.
Named backers and shareholders across these rounds include the Bidiwala Family Office, the Urmin Group, Abans Finserv, Kalpesh Harakhchand Gala and Unmaj Corporation (DRHP and Inc42/Tracxn). The IPO proceeds themselves were earmarked tightly: as per the offer documents, ₹73.1 crore for fitting out four new centres and ₹35 crore for repaying or pre-paying borrowings (Inc42), a reminder that debt has been part of the capital stack from the start.
How DevX makes money
The economics are a real-estate arbitrage dressed up as a service business. Understanding where the margin sits explains both the fat headline EBITDA and the thin bottom line.
- Money in: monthly seat and managed-office fees from occupiers, on flexible terms, plus fees from design-and-build fit-outs, payroll and facility management, and IT services (company results, September 2026).
- Money out: lease rentals to landlords, plus the depreciation and amortisation of fit-out capital. In FY25, depreciation and amortisation alone was ₹52.2 crore — the single largest cost line, larger than employee benefits (₹13.2 crore) or the ₹41.5 crore cost of services (Inc42).
- Where the margin sits: at the operating line once a centre is full. Consolidated EBITDA was ₹109 crore in FY26, a 48.4% margin (multibagg, citing company results) — healthy because rent is treated below EBITDA under lease accounting.
- The part people get wrong: that 48% EBITDA margin is not a 48% profit margin. After depreciation, amortisation and finance costs, FY26 profit before tax was ₹15.73 crore and PAT was ₹8.80 crore on ₹225.92 crore of revenue (Business Standard; multibagg) — a net margin under 4%.
- The lever: occupancy and centre maturity. Older centres run at higher utilisation and drop far more to the operating line than freshly opened ones, which is why the company keeps stressing “mature centre” performance (multibagg).
The numbers
Four years of consolidated results show a company that has roughly tripled revenue and swung from a real loss to a small, growing profit. Figures below are consolidated, in ₹ crore, from the DRHP/RHP for FY23–FY25 (via Inc42) and reported FY26 results (Business Standard; Screener).
| Fiscal year | Revenue from operations (₹ crore) | Profit / (loss) after tax (₹ crore) |
| FY23 (Mar 2023) | 69.91 | (12.8) |
| FY24 (Mar 2024) | 108.08 | 0.44 |
| FY25 (Mar 2025) | 158.87 | 1.75 |
| FY26 (Mar 2026) | 225.92 | 8.80 |
- Revenue growth: 55% in FY24, 47% in FY25, and 42.2% in FY26 — fast, but decelerating as the base grows (Inc42; Business Standard).
- FY25 total income including other income was ₹177.8 crore against total expenses of ₹175.1 crore (Inc42) — the margin of safety was tiny that year.
- FY26 profit before tax rose to ₹15.73 crore and consolidated EBITDA to ₹109 crore at a 48.4% margin (multibagg, citing company results).
Where the money comes from
The revenue mix and geography carry the surprise in the DevX story — and it cuts against the coworking cliche of glass towers in Bengaluru.
- By product: co-working and managed office space is the core, with payroll, facility management, design-and-execution and IT services layered on top for the same tenants (company results, September 2026).
- By geography: DevX describes itself as among the largest flex-space operators in India’s Tier-2 markets (company/exchange descriptions), a positioning most rivals treat as an afterthought.
- The surprise: the standalone entity runs at a much higher operating margin than the consolidated group — standalone EBITDA margin was 60.5% in FY26 versus 48.4% consolidated (multibagg), which tells you the ancillary and subsidiary lines dilute the core’s profitability.
- Concentration risk in the mix: with 250-plus clients but large enterprise anchors like Zomato and Hitachi, a handful of tenants renewing or leaving can move a single centre’s economics (RHP, via Inc42).
The risks
These are concrete, mechanism-level risks — several of them the company or the market has already surfaced.
- Scale disadvantage. DevX is the smallest of the four listed Indian flex operators. Awfis, Smartworks and IndiQube each reported FY25 revenue above ₹1,000 crore, with Smartworks near ₹1,300 crore, against DevX’s ₹158.87 crore (Inc42). Less scale means weaker leverage on landlords and thinner buffers.
- Lease-versus-flex maturity mismatch. DevX signs long leases and depreciating fit-outs against short, cancellable client contracts. In a downturn, occupancy can fall while rent and depreciation do not — exactly the dynamic that produced the ₹12.8 crore FY23 loss (DRHP, via Inc42).
- Debt in the stack. The company allocated ₹35 crore of IPO proceeds specifically to repay or pre-pay borrowings (Inc42), and one FY26 result analysis flagged leverage as an underlying concern despite the strong quarter (MarketsMojo, May 2026).
- The market’s own verdict. Despite growth, the stock traded around ₹35 in late September 2026 with a market cap of roughly ₹332 crore — about 40% below the ₹61 IPO price and a one-year return near −41% (market data aggregators; Screener). A cheap capital base is harder to raise against.
The takeaway
The transferable lesson in DevX is about where a small company chooses to compete. It did not try to out-spend Awfis or Smartworks in the metros; it went to Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara first, and built a defensible position in cities the giants skipped. That focus is what let a modestly funded business — $18 million of lifetime private capital — reach a public listing while much larger, better-funded coworking names elsewhere collapsed. The unfinished part of the lesson is that a good operating story and a good stock are not the same thing: DevX has grown revenue and profit every year since FY23, and its shares have still fallen well below issue price. Profitable growth earns you the right to stay in the game; it does not, on its own, set the price the market will pay.
Frequently asked questions
Is DevX the same company as Dev Accelerator Limited?
Yes. DevX is the brand name; the listed legal entity is Dev Accelerator Limited, which trades on the NSE and BSE under the ticker DEVX. It is headquartered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and was founded in 2017.
When did DevX go public and how much did it raise?
DevX’s IPO opened on 10 September 2025, closed on 12 September 2025, and the shares listed on 17 September 2025. It raised ₹143 crore entirely through a fresh issue of 2.35 crore shares priced at ₹61 each, with no offer for sale, and the issue was subscribed about 63.97 times (Inc42; Business Standard).
Is DevX profitable?
Yes, since FY24. It reported a small profit after tax of about ₹43.7 lakh in FY24, ₹1.75 crore in FY25, and ₹8.80 crore in FY26, after posting a ₹12.8 crore loss in FY23 (DRHP via Inc42; Business Standard).
How big is DevX compared with Awfis, Smartworks and IndiQube?
It is the smallest of the four listed Indian flex operators. Awfis, Smartworks and IndiQube each reported FY25 revenue above ₹1,000 crore, whereas DevX’s FY25 revenue was ₹158.87 crore (Inc42).
Why has the DevX share price fallen below its IPO price?
Despite growing revenue and profit, the stock traded near ₹35 in late September 2026, roughly 40% under the ₹61 issue price, with a one-year return around −41%. Analysts have pointed to its small scale, leverage and modest net margins as reasons the market has re-rated it downward (market data aggregators; MarketsMojo).
Sources
Figures are as of September 2026. Currency converted at $1 ≈ ₹96.0 as of 18 September 2026 (Trading Economics).
- Inc42, “IPO-Bound DevX Sees Profit Surge 3.9X In FY25” — FY25 and FY24 revenue, profit and expense detail, September 2025.
- Inc42, “Coworking Space Provider DevX Files DRHP For IPO” — FY23/FY24 figures, clients, footprint, September–October 2024.
- Inc42, “DevX IPO To Open On September 10” — issue size, price band, use of proceeds, September 2025.
- Inc42 / Tracxn, DevX company and funding profile — rounds, backers, total funding, last valuation, September 2025.
- Business Standard, “Dev Accelerator makes flat D-Street debut at ₹61” and “consolidated net profit rises 276.19% in the March 2026 quarter” — listing day and FY26 results, September 2025 and May 2026.
- multibagg.ai, DevX FY26 analysis — consolidated and standalone EBITDA margins, PBT, September 2026.
- Screener.in, Dev Accelerator Ltd — four-year revenue and profit series, market cap and share price, September 2026.
- MarketsMojo, “Dev Accelerator Q4 FY26” analysis — leverage and profitability commentary, 2026.
- YourStory, DevX Startup Bharat coverage — founding story and pandemic-era operations, 2020–2021.
- Coworking Europe, DevX $7 million funding — February 2024.
- Trading Economics — USD/INR reference rate, 18 September 2026.
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