MUMBAI: Japan's telecoms and internet giant SoftBank Corp has held talks with Oyo Rooms, a branded budget hotel marketplace, for leading a massive $100 million or Rs 630 crore financing round in the company, people familiar with the matter told TOI. If it goes through, this would be the third institutional fund-raise for Oyo Rooms which has emerged as the largest player in the fast-growing online hotel booking space. Softbank, an existing investor in e-tailer Snapdeal, taxi-hailing service Ola and realty portal Housing, is looking to pick up a 25-30% stake in the startup founded by Ritesh Agarwal, 21, a college dropout, as Oravel Stays three years ago.
www.sevagiri.com
Softbank is said to have put in a term sheet, a non-binding agreement between the company and the investor, but the final terms of the funding are yet to closed, people familiar with the matter said.
Multiple sources told TOI that Tiger Global, one of the most aggressive and prolific backers of India's consumer internet story, had also discussed a potential investment in the Gurgaon-based company but may have pulled out of the talks. The budget hotel aggregator space is being tracked actively by early-stage venture funds resulting in a bunch of newer players hitting the market.
When contacted by TOI, a Softbank Corp spokesperson in Tokyo said over an email, "We are not able to comment on this." Agarwal, founder & CEO of Oyo Rooms also did not offer any comments regarding the fund raise.
Oyo is present across 15 cities with 4000 budget hotel rooms on its platform based on the on the asset light marketplace model made famous by Uber and Airbnb. Starting at moderate charges of Rs 999 per night, hotel owners that partner with Oyo see a significant spike in occupancy levels, the aggregator claims.
In March this year, Oyo which competes with the likes of Zo Rooms and Casa2Inns, had raised $25 million from Greenoaks Capital, an investor in e-commerce major Flipkart, with existing investors Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participating valuing it at $100 million.
"We are seeing for the first time that technology is touching the lower income section so the Indian market will see lots of products and interests in these segments going forward," said Rehan Yar Khan, general partner at Mumbai-based early-stage venture fund Orios Ventures.
Agarwal, who was chosen for the prestigious Peter Thiel Fellowship aims for Oyo to become the largest technology-enabled network of hotels in the world. As one of the most well-funded early-stage startups, the company is looking to expand its network to 1000 hotels in 25 cities by this year end. Agarwal has said earlier his vision is to offer the Oyo Rooms experience to every business, leisure and pilgrim traveller across 100 cities through a network of 10,000 hotels.
Source - Times Of India
www.sevagiri.com
Softbank is said to have put in a term sheet, a non-binding agreement between the company and the investor, but the final terms of the funding are yet to closed, people familiar with the matter said.
Multiple sources told TOI that Tiger Global, one of the most aggressive and prolific backers of India's consumer internet story, had also discussed a potential investment in the Gurgaon-based company but may have pulled out of the talks. The budget hotel aggregator space is being tracked actively by early-stage venture funds resulting in a bunch of newer players hitting the market.
When contacted by TOI, a Softbank Corp spokesperson in Tokyo said over an email, "We are not able to comment on this." Agarwal, founder & CEO of Oyo Rooms also did not offer any comments regarding the fund raise.
Oyo is present across 15 cities with 4000 budget hotel rooms on its platform based on the on the asset light marketplace model made famous by Uber and Airbnb. Starting at moderate charges of Rs 999 per night, hotel owners that partner with Oyo see a significant spike in occupancy levels, the aggregator claims.
In March this year, Oyo which competes with the likes of Zo Rooms and Casa2Inns, had raised $25 million from Greenoaks Capital, an investor in e-commerce major Flipkart, with existing investors Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participating valuing it at $100 million.
"We are seeing for the first time that technology is touching the lower income section so the Indian market will see lots of products and interests in these segments going forward," said Rehan Yar Khan, general partner at Mumbai-based early-stage venture fund Orios Ventures.
Agarwal, who was chosen for the prestigious Peter Thiel Fellowship aims for Oyo to become the largest technology-enabled network of hotels in the world. As one of the most well-funded early-stage startups, the company is looking to expand its network to 1000 hotels in 25 cities by this year end. Agarwal has said earlier his vision is to offer the Oyo Rooms experience to every business, leisure and pilgrim traveller across 100 cities through a network of 10,000 hotels.
Source - Times Of India
No comments:
Post a Comment