OYO flexes muscles with $250 million raise, looks beyond India
By cameron in Uncategorized
OYO Rooms, the first and now largest technology-enabled branded online accommodation aggregator in India, has picked up another $250 million in a Series D round, bringing the total raised since its 2013 launch to $450 million.
The Series D includes a new investor – Hero Enterprises. Existing backers SoftBank, Sequoia India, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Greenoaks Capital also took part.
OYO co-founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal said in a statement:
“We will also deploy fresh capital to take our made-in-India business model to international markets which are characterised by a similar supply-demand imbalance in real-estate and hospitality.”
The international expansion was also highlighted in the quotation from Softbank’s Justin Wilson:
“We’re excited to continue to support OYO as they further expand their position in India and bring the OYO promise of affordability and elevated hospitality to other markets around the world.”
OYO has two brands – OYO Rooms operates in the budget segment while OYO Townhouse is aimed at the mid-market. Agarwal said that business is looking to develop capabilities to add 10,000 rooms a month to its platform.
The vast majority – 95% – of its inventory is sold direct, Agarwal claims.
Related reading from tnooz:
Hong Kong VCs see potential in Treebo, back $35 million Series C (Aug17)
OYO cuts losses and spend, shuns OTAs (Aug17)
FabHotels nabs $25 million Series B (Aug17)