BITS Pilani alumni's startup is gamifying the online workspace

BITS Pilani and London School of Business alumni Karan Baweja and Rahul Goyal during the pandemic realized one thing - while working from home would not be a challenge, human interaction and connectivity will be challenging. It is to bring that very human connectivity they started Cosmos Videoout of London in 2020.

The startup has built virtual spaces that replicate the physical office by combining video chat with a Minecraft-like game.

“For most people, 2020 has been the year the world went online, where bedrooms became offices and family catch ups turned to zoom. When the pandemic hit, we were working in London, running product teams at two of London's top consumer startups - Citymapper and TransferWise,” says Karan Baweja.

During this time, he says, they started missing their office friends, the coffee breaks, and having breakfast together was something they simply longed for, which led them to start Cosmos Video.

Some of the companies using the platform in India include Apple, Google, Facebook, Uber, Salesforce, Postman, Locus, IIT Bombay, EY, Indiabulls, Clarisights, and Firstcheque.VC.

Karan explains, without going to the office, work had become endless Zoom calls and Slack threads. Spontaneous discussions and creative brainstorming had come to a halt. “We needed a way to bring back the same speed and energy of working from an office and teams feeling connected, and we wanted to do this while our teams worked remotely,” says Karan.

Though returning to the office was an option, there were too many benefits of working remotely - companies can hire across the globe, and no leases result in huge cost savings. For employees, there are time and financial savings on commuting, and freedom to live outside the city centre.