Zo House: Zostel founders’ new clubhouse concept combines membership with ownership

Walking through Zo World’s Zo House in Koramangala, a 12,000-square-foot property adorned with cutting-edge design and sophisticated interiors created by those who are also members of the clubhouse, it was clear that this was no ordinary club. Unlike traditional club memberships that simply offer benefits to enrolled members, Zo House offered something more. The space was infused with technology and brimmed with networking opportunities, presenting a fresh and innovative approach to the clubhouse experience in the Web3 world.

As I entered the studio, a professional workspace, the 3D printer caught my attention. Zostel founders Dharamveer Singh and Chetan Chouhan explained that it is used to create miniatures, some of which were also on display.

“This is a new, new-age club. I don’t think there’s any other club that is willing to give you access to a 3D printing studio. Maybe it gives you a Jacuzzi and other things,” says Singh.

Founded in 2022, Zo World is a completely different entity from Zostel, one of India’s leading backpacker hostel chains. It is a Web3 club for NFT artists that has introduced Zo Membership, Zo House, and Zo Studio to incubate, curate, and launch artists in the Web3 space. The club has 450 unique members who initially purchased their NFT-based membership for 0.01 Ethereum and are now trading at 100 times that price. In rupee terms, these NFTs were bought for approximately Rs 3,000 and are currently valued at approximately Rs 4 lakh. And this membership can be sold or transferred.

Chouhan states that the club has been profitable since its inception, generating Rs 20 lakh in revenue per month with fixed costs around Rs 11 lakh. The monetisation model includes room rents, kitchens, events, and more. Now, Chouhan adds that they are introducing a new concept at Zo House that combines membership with ownership, moving away from the NFT-only memberships he describes as “top-tier membership”. Currently, only 250 of these exclusive memberships remain in reserve.

“We are building the first Zo House in Whitefield, Bengaluru, where we will offer membership plus ownership. It’s a 40,000-square-foot, one-acre farmhouse property where members will have lifetime access and fractional ownership. This exclusive club is limited to 500 members.”

According to Singh and Chouhan, the new membership-plus-ownership model will cost around Rs 12 lakh per membership (for the smallest fractional ownership). Members will own a fractional piece of land, though the specifics of the structure are still under discussion.

But why the ownership model? “Because we want the community to own real estate, we want to truly build community-driven businesses, and in a way, this would incentivise them also,” the co-founders said.

Through the earlier NFT-based membership, the members have gained returns, and for this ownership model, the members might get a good IRR (internal rate of return).

IRR is the projected profit a piece of real estate could earn over time.

“With membership, you are also getting a piece of land. So whatever IRR will come through that, you will get,” Chetan explains.

The co-founders said the property they signed in Whitefield cost them around Rs 36 crore. About inviting memberships, the co-founders said that it is invite-only, and the founder members (the initial members of Zo House) will get the opportunity first.

Zo House membership offers members not only access to the clubhouse but also networking opportunities with elite CXOs and HNIs, along with access to events, hackathons, and private residencies in tech, music, hardware, art, and culture across the world where they have a base.

“A lot of people, around 10–12 start-ups, got their funding in Zo House, Bengaluru, in between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore, or maybe even more than that, a lot of people got jobs, so that’s the kind of networking that happens here.”

Till date, the co-founders claim they have showcased the art of more than 200 artists from over 25 countries and launched more than 25 artists.

At present, there are three Zo Houses, one operational in Bengaluru, one in San Francisco, and one in Dubai. The Whitefield Zo House launch will make it four, this, the founders say, will be operational by July-end.