Rakuten India announced the formal opening of their new office Rakuten – Crimson House Bengaluru in the city. The Product, Engineering, and Advanced Research facility represents further expansion of the company’s global technology footprint and will focus on developing and delivering a wide range of cross-industry deep technology solutions to help drive digital transformation and innovation for customers and partners.
Located at Cubbon Park, popularly referred to as the ‘lung space’ of Bengaluru city, Rakuten – Crimson House Bengaluru is a 20 storeyed state-of-the art, modern building and is the company’s largest outside of Japan. Strategically located in the city’s central business district, it is the largest building by a tech company in the area. With a capacity for housing 3000+ employees, it currently accommodates 2000 employees with room to grow.
The inauguration of the new office is a momentous occasion for Rakuten India and underlines Rakuten’s commitment to making India its global innovation centre. The new office will further enhance the company’s capability for deep-tech innovation and R&D in areas such as e-commerce, fintech, content and entertainment, as well as AI in computer vision, speech, and natural language processing (NLP). Rakuten ‘SixthSense’, the company’s first B2B SaaS product, an all-in-one observability intelligence and software testing automation platform, hit the market last year.
The building was inaugurated today in the presence of global leaders from Japan led by CIO and CISO, Group Executive Vice President of Rakuten Group, Inc., Mr. Yasufumi Hirai, along with the India CEO, Mr. Sunil Gopinath, Chief People Officer, Ms. Nalini George, as well as employees, partners, and customers from across the region.
“India is and has been central to our growth strategy. Our new R&D centre will build on the high value-added engagements that Rakuten has been delivering from India on deep tech and product innovation. Our modern and environment friendly facility provides a perfect environment to return to office post pandemic and is designed to foster collaboration and innovation”, said Yasufumi Hirai, CIO and CISO, Group Executive Vice President of Rakuten Group, Inc.
With employee expectations and the nature of work itself having undergone a shift in the last few years, Rakuten India’s new building is built keeping in mind the need for safe, fluid spaces that allow for creativity, collaboration, and innovation . The facility boasts of 3 lakh sq ft of office space, and includes cafeterias, meeting and breakout rooms, a creche, a gym, and a dedicated floor for health and wellness.
“We are delighted to showcase our growth ambitions in India with the opening of our new office building”, said Sunil Gopinath, CEO of Rakuten India. “Coming together in person to collaborate and build community will remain an important part of our future work. We are excited to welcome employees back to the workplace where teams can collaborate, engage, and socialise in ways that we have missed during the pandemic”, he added.
