Hotel aggregator OYO Rooms has secured $250 million from its existing investor SoftBank, with new investor Hero Enterprise also coming on board, reports ETtech.
The Japanese telecom and internet conglomerate has invested through its $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund, making this the second major bet placed by the world’s largest pool of private capital in India over the course of the last two months.
The latest transaction has also seen participation from Gurgaon-headquartered company’s existing group of investor which includes, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Greenoaks Capital. Also joining the company’s investor cap table is Hero Enterprise, the Sunil Munjal.
Commenting on the development, Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman, Hero Enterprise, said, “The differentiated thinking and ingenuity that Ritesh and his team bring to this industry gives us confidence that OYO can scale, innovate and set new benchmarks in customer experience.”
According to ETtech report, a significant portion of the proceeds of the latest round of funding will be used by the company, which was founded by engineering college dropout Ritesh Agarwal in 2012.
OYO, which currently claims to operate 8,500 hotels and 70,000 rooms in more than 230 cities across the country, had raised $90-million funding round, split into two tranches, led by its largest shareholder SoftBank in August 2016.
Prior to this, OYO raised $100 million of funding in April 2016 from SoftBank only. Its other investors include Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Capital, among others. OYO got its first round of funding from Venture Nursery, a Mumbai-based startup accelerator, in December 2012.
Notably, Venture Nursery has cashed out of the startup amid differences which cropped up between the startup accelerator and the OYO in 2015. Venture Nursery held around 2% stake in OYO, which it has exited netting Rs 60 crore in a secondary sale of shares. It had put Rs 2530 lakh in the startup’s first avatar Oravel Stays -an Airbnb clone -between 2012-13.
The firm competes with the likes of Nasdaq-listed online travel operators MakeMyTrip and Yatra, as well as Treebo Hotels and Fab Hotels that have all raised significant amounts of risk capital in 2017.
The SoftBank invests globally in the businesses and technologies that will enable the next stage of the information revolution, and make tomorrow’s world leading businesses possible. The fund invests across all technology sectors and geographies, including computational biology, data-driven healthcare, and technology-enabled pharmaceutical businesses.
In past six months, London-headquartered Vision Fund has closed two massive deals. Earlier in July 2017, SoftBank invested $2.5 billion in the homegrown e-commerce firm, Flipkart marking the biggest private investment in the country’s consumer technology sector. Whereas, in April, the firm invested $1.4 billion in Noida-based Paytm, valuing it at about $7 billion.
In earlier August 2017, the investment firm had invested $1.1 billion in Indian origin entrepreneur’s biotech startup, Roivant Sciences. In the same month, SoftBank again hit the road as the firm was in talks with a logistic startup, Rivigo Services to invest at least $100 million. It also invested $4.4 billion in office sharing startup WeWork.
With these investments, it is clear that SoftBank is ramping up investments in India at a rapid pace.
The Japanese telecom and internet conglomerate has invested through its $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund, making this the second major bet placed by the world’s largest pool of private capital in India over the course of the last two months.
The latest transaction has also seen participation from Gurgaon-headquartered company’s existing group of investor which includes, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Greenoaks Capital. Also joining the company’s investor cap table is Hero Enterprise, the Sunil Munjal.
Commenting on the development, Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman, Hero Enterprise, said, “The differentiated thinking and ingenuity that Ritesh and his team bring to this industry gives us confidence that OYO can scale, innovate and set new benchmarks in customer experience.”
According to ETtech report, a significant portion of the proceeds of the latest round of funding will be used by the company, which was founded by engineering college dropout Ritesh Agarwal in 2012.
OYO, which currently claims to operate 8,500 hotels and 70,000 rooms in more than 230 cities across the country, had raised $90-million funding round, split into two tranches, led by its largest shareholder SoftBank in August 2016.
Prior to this, OYO raised $100 million of funding in April 2016 from SoftBank only. Its other investors include Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Capital, among others. OYO got its first round of funding from Venture Nursery, a Mumbai-based startup accelerator, in December 2012.
Notably, Venture Nursery has cashed out of the startup amid differences which cropped up between the startup accelerator and the OYO in 2015. Venture Nursery held around 2% stake in OYO, which it has exited netting Rs 60 crore in a secondary sale of shares. It had put Rs 2530 lakh in the startup’s first avatar Oravel Stays -an Airbnb clone -between 2012-13.
The firm competes with the likes of Nasdaq-listed online travel operators MakeMyTrip and Yatra, as well as Treebo Hotels and Fab Hotels that have all raised significant amounts of risk capital in 2017.
The SoftBank invests globally in the businesses and technologies that will enable the next stage of the information revolution, and make tomorrow’s world leading businesses possible. The fund invests across all technology sectors and geographies, including computational biology, data-driven healthcare, and technology-enabled pharmaceutical businesses.
In past six months, London-headquartered Vision Fund has closed two massive deals. Earlier in July 2017, SoftBank invested $2.5 billion in the homegrown e-commerce firm, Flipkart marking the biggest private investment in the country’s consumer technology sector. Whereas, in April, the firm invested $1.4 billion in Noida-based Paytm, valuing it at about $7 billion.
In earlier August 2017, the investment firm had invested $1.1 billion in Indian origin entrepreneur’s biotech startup, Roivant Sciences. In the same month, SoftBank again hit the road as the firm was in talks with a logistic startup, Rivigo Services to invest at least $100 million. It also invested $4.4 billion in office sharing startup WeWork.
With these investments, it is clear that SoftBank is ramping up investments in India at a rapid pace.
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