Indian budget hotel network OYO raises RM4.14bn in latest funding round

OYO Hotels, an Indian hospitality service and budget hotel network, has raised RM3.3 billion in the latest funding round led bySoftBank Investment Advisers through SoftBank Vision Fund. The company also received a commitment of additional RM827 million, bringing the total to RM4.14 billion in this round.OYO will direct approximately RM2.5 billion from this round of financing into strengthening its position in China, which according to the company is still in the early stages of growth. The company currently has presence in 171 Chinese cities. Meanwhile, the rest of go into maintaining its leadership position in India and expansion into new markets.Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia and Greenoaks Capital also participated in the latest funding round. This comes after Chinese internet company Tencent was tipped to invest between US$300 to US$500 million in OYO in July this year.OYO currently operates more than 120 properties across major cities in Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi, Johor and Melaka.Abhinav Sinha, chief operating officer, OYO Hotels told A+M in a previous interview that the company plans to grow its Malaysian team from 50 employees to 500 over the next 12 months, with the leadership and employees comprising local Malaysians. It also plans to create more than 5,000 new jobs in Malaysia over the next few years, and achieve “twenty-fold increase” by onboarding 1,000 hotels over the next 12 months.Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO, OYO said it will continue to explore newer businesses while remaining focused on both organic and inorganic growth. In the last 12 months, OYO increased its international footprint to five countries - Malaysia, China, India, Nepal and the UK."With this additional funding, we plan to rapidly scale our business in these countries, while continuing to invest further in technology and talent. We will also deploy fresh capital to take our unique model that enables small hotel owners to create quality living spaces, global," he added.Meanwhile, Maninder Gulati, chief strategy officer, OYO added that the deal reinforces the confidence of its investors in its "unique" full stack fulfilment-led business model and the growth potential it promises. "Over the years, we have developed the expertise that makes it possible for us to offer the benefits of a big hotel chain to small hotels, thereby helping them improve efficiencies and customer experience," he said.