SoftBank Vision Fund along with the existing investors Sequoia India, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Greenoaks Capital have invested around $ 250 million in the budget hotel aggregator startup OYO. Sunil Munjal led Hero Enterprise also participated in this Series D funding round.
The fresh funds will give OYO the growth capital to scale up its network and invest in its recently launched effort to create premium, self managed hotels under the Townhouse brand. This is OYO’s largest ever funding round and will give the company the heft to battle the large online travel agencies MakeMyTrip and Goibibo, which joined forces in October last year.
Japanese major SoftBank previously invested in OYO in April 2016, where the company raised $ 200 million from the funding round. Speaking about the company, SoftBank’s Board representative, Justin Wilson said OYO has solidified its position in India as the leading accommodation brand for consumer affordability and high quality standards and they are excited to continue their support to OYO as they further expand their position in India. SoftBank, at present, backs various other Indian startups such as Paytm, Flipkart, Hike, Grofers and InMobi.
The Gurugram based company, founded by Ritesh Agarwal in 2013, will use the capital to support their expansion into newer markets in India and abroad. OYO has already started its expansion plans in South East Asia and entered Malaysia and Nepal in January and April this year, respectively. Till date, they have raised close to $ 436 million in funds through four funding rounds. While the valuation of OYO post this round of funding was not revealed, it is expected to be much higher than its valuation of $ 460 million from their last funding round in August 2016. A news daily reported OYO’s valuation may be as high as $850 million to $900 million after this Series D round.
Ritesh Agarwal, the founder and CEO of OYO said the company will focus on accelerating network coverage to consolidate their leadership in the economy through OYO Rooms and through the Townhouse brands. “We will also deploy fresh capital to take our made in India business model to international markets which are characterized by a similar supply demand imbalance in real estate and hospitality,” he added.
Other players in the hotel aggregator market space include RedDoorz, Wudstay Hotels, FabHotels, Treebo Hotels and GoStays.