Oyo Rooms

OYO Rooms (stylised as OYO), formerly known as OYO Hotels & Homes, is an Indian multinational hospitality chain owned by PRISM[7] which operates leased hotels, homes, and living spaces. It is headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana.[8][9][10] Founded in 2012 by Ritesh Agarwal, OYO initially consisted mainly of budget hotels.[1] As of January 2020, it has more than 43,000 properties and 1 million rooms across 800 cities in 80 countries.[11]

History

In 2012, Ritesh Agarwal launched Oravel Stays as a budget accommodation listing and booking website, later renamed to OYO in 2013.[12] Shortly after launching Oravel Stays, Ritesh Agarwal received a grant of $100,000 as part of the Thiel Fellowship, a two-year program from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.[13][14]

In November 2015, Oyo signed a term sheet to acquire Zostel's Zo Rooms in an all-stock deal which would give Zostel's founders and investors a combined 7% stake in Oyo.[15] In February 2016, Oyo's biggest stakeholder SoftBank announced in its earnings report that the acquisition was completed.[16] However, in October 2017, Oyo stated that the deal was called-off and the "non-binding term sheet" for the deal had expired in September 2016.[17] Zostel claimed that the term sheet was binding and it had transferred its business to Oyo which in turn failed to transfer the 7% stake.[18] In 2018, Zostel approached the Supreme Court of India, which appointed former Chief Justice of India, A. M. Ahmadi as the sole arbitrator to resolve the dispute.[19] In March 2021, Ahmadi ruled that the term sheet was binding and Zostel was entitled to execute the definitive agreements in the contract.[20] In October 2021, Zostel wrote to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, seeking a stay on Oyo's IPO and claiming that Oyo's "capital structure is not final."[21] In February 2022, the Delhi High Court rejected Zostel's appeal for a 7% stake in Oyo.[22]

In March 2016, OYO acquired the team of Qlik Pass, founded by Rahul Gupta and Rishi Swami, to set up and lead its data science department.[23]

In March 2018, OYO acquired Chennai-based service apartment operator, Novascotia Boutique Homes,[24][25] to establish its presence in the service apartment and corporate executive stay segment. It acquired Weddingz.in, a Mumbai-based online marketplace for wedding venues and vendors.[26]

In 2019, OYO and Airbnb announced a strategic partnership where OYO would list their properties in the Airbnb platform.[27] In March 2019, OYO announced a ₹1,400 crore investment in its India and South Asia businesses.[28] In April 2019, OYO announced a strategic global distribution partnership with Hotelbeds.[29] The company also announced two joint-ventures with SoftBank and Yahoo! Japan in 2019.[30] In May 2019, OYO announced the acquisition of Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group, a European vacation rental company, for $415 million.[31] In July 2019, OYO announced the acquisition of Innov8, a co-working space in New Delhi.[32] The same year OYO bought a Danish vacation home rental company, DanCenter.[33]

In August 2019, OYO made its first major investment in the United States by purchasing the Hooters Casino Hotel, near the Las Vegas Strip, in partnership with US-based real estate company Highgate, for $135 million.[34][35] In September 2019, Oyo announced the acquisition of the Copenhagen-based data science firm Danamica for $10 million.[36]

In June 2021, OYO Rooms collaborated with Yatra, Airbnb, and EaseMyTrip to form the Confederation of Hospitality, Technology and Tourism Industry (CHATT), an industry body for the tourism sector of India.[37]

In October 2021, OYO appointed Paralympian Deepa Malik as an independent director on the company's board of directors.[38] In December 2021, OYO onboarded former State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Rajnish Kumar as its strategic group advisor.[39]

In May 2022, OYO announced the acquisition of Europe-based company Direct Booker, valuing the latter at around US$5.5 million.[40]

In September 2024, OYO agreed to buy American budget motel chain Motel 6 and its extended-stay brand Studio 6 in an all-cash deal worth $525 million from Blackstone Inc.[41]

Operations

In 2019, OYO had over 17,000 employees globally,[42][43] of which approximately 8,000 were in India and South Asia. The company invests in capex,[44] hires general managers to oversee operations and customer experience.[45] OYO set up 26 training institutes for hospitality enthusiasts across India in 2019.[46]

Funding

The company's current and former investors include SoftBank Group, Didi Chuxing, Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia India, Lightspeed India, Hero Enterprise, Airbnb and China Lodging Group.

In September 2018, OYO raised $1 billion, of which the RoC filing for the amount of $100 million raised from Star Virtue Investment Ltd. was made on 13 February 2019.[47][48]

In February 2019, OYO received $100 million funding from the Chinese vehicle-for-hire company, Didi Chuxing.[49] In July 2019, Ritesh Agarwal, through RA Hospitality Holdings in Cayman Islands,[50][51] signed a $2 billion deal to buy back shares from existing investors, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia India, to increase his stake in the company to 30%.[52] The company was valued at $10 billion with this deal.[53][54] In October 2019, OYO raised Series F funding of $1.5 billion led by SoftBank Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia India.[55]

In July 2021, OYO closed a debt financing round of $660 million from global institutional investors to service existing loans.[56] In July 2021, Microsoft expressed interest to invest in OYO before its IPO[57] and a multi-year strategic deal was signed in September 2021.[58] In October 2021, Oyo filed its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise US$1.2 billion through an initial public offering.[59]

In January 2022, more than 500 current and former employees of OYO, purchased around 3 crore shares in the company. The total value of these shares can be approximated to about inr 3300000000, as per the last valuation of OYO of $9.6 billion.[60]

In June 2024, Oyo held another round of funding, raising between $100 and $125 million. The company was valued at $2.5 billion, down over 70% from the previous valuation in 2019.[61]

Financials

Services

Oyo Rooms operates the following brands for its properties and services:

• OYO Townhouse – midscale hospitality[66]
• OYO Home – home management system that offers private homes in different locations and are fully managed by OYO[67][68]
• OYO Vacation Homes – vacation home brand with vacation rental management brands Belvilla,[69] Danland,[31] and DanCenter,[70] along with Germany-based Traum-Ferienwohnungen
• SilverKey – hotel brand focused on corporate travellers[71][72]
• Capital O – hotel booking for business travellers[73]
• Palette – upscale leisure resorts[74][75]
• Collection O – booking and renting services to business travellers[76][77]
• OYO LIFE – long-term rentals[78][79]

See also

External links

• Official site