Startups cash in on exclusivity to build members-only, private clubs

Mint

4 hours ago

Bengaluru: As India's professionals seek more curated spaces to build valuable networks, exclusive private clubs are emerging as coveted hubs of connection and influence—and startups are taking notice. From curated member lists to secret addresses and by-invitation-only access, a new generation of private social clubs is redefining what exclusivity means, opening up a lucrative opportunity for entrepreneurs eager to build the country's startup-focused Soho Houses and Core Clubs.
Offline, a Delhi-based venture that calls itself a private community for the top 10% of tech founders and C-suite executives, has 100 paying members as of June in less than two years of inception, its founder and chief executive officer, Utsav Somani, told Mint. A membership in Offline costs nearly ₹6 lakh a year.
'Offline's got a powerful address book ofa founders in the country who are ready to help each other. Every community needs something to bond the members. We have a three-house professional group therapy format where 7-8 founders come together and unpack what's working or not working in their personal and professional lives," Somani said.
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Offline secured $2 million from a host of angel investors, including Groww's Lalit Keshre, Razorpay's Harshil Mathur and micro-funds like DeVC, Better Capital, and Riverwalk Holdings.
Meet5 Club, a four-month-old Bengaluru-based exclusive club for ambitious professionals, has grown to nearly 500 members, including founders, investors and CXOs, to date and has another 2,000 on the waitlist, its founder Rakesh Andey said.
'Every Wednesday, we host private, AI [artificial intelligence]-curated dinners that pair members with five highly relevant peers—aligned to their goals, stage, and personality—to spark deep conversations, real momentum and a sense of belonging," Andey added. Meet5 Club has, so far, raised undisclosed funding from angel investors.
Drawing inspiration from global counterparts like Hampton—a private network for high-growth founders based in New York—and Startup Grind New York City in the virtual space and SoHo House and Core Club in the physical world, these young companies want to offer deeper professional connections while retaining the invite-only format.
The market for private clubs is significant. Physical private members-only clubs were estimated at ₹576 crore in FY24 and expected to touch ₹941 crore by 2027, per research by Axon Developers. While no equivalent estimates for virtual clubs are available, the growth of wealthy individuals is a key indicator of potential.
India is expected to have 16 lakh high net-worth individuals (those possessing investable assets of at least $1 million) by 2027, as per a 2023 report by Knight Frank. The country holds the third position in Asia and sixth globally in terms of the number of ultra high-net-worth individuals (those having investable assets exceeding $30 million), with technology and startup industries serving as top contributors to the fortune, according to Anarock.
Focus on trust
Private clubs for the wealthy have existed in India, including Gymkhanas, Rotary Clubs, and new-age ones like BLVD, SoHo House, and The Quorum, among others.
However, the purpose has always been to connect like-minded individuals over creating networks. 'For us, networking is the outcome, not the purpose. The idea is to create a place of belonging for individuals of similar interests and aspirations through a high-quality hospitality environment," said Vivek Narain, founder and CEO of The Quorum, a contemporary private club with physical presence in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Professionals tend to seek exclusivity to develop trust and a sense of belonging with others in the community. 'Trust underpins everything. Founders want to be part of a community they can relate to because every founder will undergo different challenges in different stages of the journey. The intent is to provide a solution for a niche and win that over," said Jai Sumer Singh, co-founder and partner at early-stage venture fund Riverwalk Holdings. Riverwalk is among the early investors of Offline.
While mixers and other social events continue to take shape in different parts of the country, many are simply transactional. Firms like Offline and Meet5 intend to fix it.
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'In today's hyper-connected world, ambitious professionals still struggle to find the right conversations, collaborators, and clarity. Most networks, whether coworkers, alumni, or friends, rarely evolve alongside a professional's changing goals or stage of growth," said Meet5 Club's Andey.
Edge Community, a closed-door network for professionals in countries including India, Dubai, London and New York, will cap its members list to 10,000, according to its founder Yashraj Akashi. 'Think of a closed-door and invite-only LinkedIn. A handful of them are donor members who host specially curated meet-ups and sessions, while others will be members onboarded on an invite-only basis." Edge is very selective about expanding its membership, allowing only 4-5 to join the community every month.
Edge's network includes several veteran executives of large listed companies as well as IPO-bound and venture capital-funded startup founders. Moreover, not having a physical space to gather helps Edge save up on crucial capex spends, which are used to build other critical infrastructure, like bringing on board highly influential experts, according to Akashi.
Offline's Somani—who was previously the India head of AngelList—saw the need to create a safe space for startup founders that typically face very different challenges compared to larger companies. 'Our members include 11 unicorn founders, 6 people running IPO companies, and the average valuation within the community is nearly $1.9 billion. Their worry isn't the membership cost, but their time."
Meet5 Club enables members to share their goals privately. 'These are never visible or broadcast, which allows deeper intent without exposure," according to Andey.
Building scale
Unlike many startups that aspire for scale, startups in this space are focused on building niche experiences with restricted audiences to maintain exclusivity.
'The mission is not to drive volume, but create value," said Riverwalk's Singh, adding that when a business solves for trust in a niche like this, many adjectives open up. 'A thriving business is one that serves a need and does it repeatedly."
Offline's Somani does not want to expand the members list beyond 350. 'Our aim is never to be a community with thousands of members. Beyond 350, the network effect just breaks and then just becomes a membership-gathering experiment." The firm will also eventually offer additional services like a concierge, as well as a legal and financial desk.
Meet5 Club is not actively raising institutional capital yet, but it is open to conversations. 'We are open to conversations with long-term partners who believe in building the next-generation social infrastructure for professionals," said Andey.
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However, building private communities doesn't come without its troubles. Most recently, leap.club–a private club focused on connecting ambitious women—shut down, citing unsustainable unit economics. 'Trust us when we say that we explored every path to keep this dream going, including fundraising/potential expansion to other cities, but the current unit economics and usage just didn't justify scaling," the firm said in a LinkedIn post in May.
However, deepening talent density and the growing need for connections among professionals will always result in ever-expanding potential of such ventures, according to Riverwalk's Singh.