The Delhi-NCR based hospitality start-up OYO, that first ventured into international markets in 2016, plans to expand its International presence with its entry in the Philippines, according to sources.
Already having established its presence in countries like United Kingdom, China, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, the SoftBank-backed hospitality company has already brought 10 properties on-board in Philippines and is adding more and more locations at a steady pace, aiming to tap into the $5 billion opportunity in the Philippines market.
Ritesh Agarwal, Founder, OYO, started his journey with the company under the name Oravel Stays in 2012, however, it took a lot of tweaking and tuning to the business plan before he could raise enough investment to create an online yet social community to bring information about all good places together on one platform. After a little over a year of hard work and brainstorming, he relaunched his venture under the name “OYO Rooms”.
To make sure the hotels met their expectations; OYO Rooms reached out to prospective hotels, visit the place, audit the hotel to understand the changes that would be required to standardize the property as per OYO standards, and shares the same with the hotels.
OYO got its big breakthrough finally in 2014 after the company raised Rs. 4 Crore from Lightspeed Venture Partners (LSVP) and DSG Consumer Partners, at a pre-money valuation (valuation of a company prior to investment or financing) of Rs 14 Crore.
OYO CEO India and South Asia, Aditya Ghosh, had said in an interview, “the company is working on a roadmap for 1 million (10 lakh) room inventory over the next two years from the existing count of over 4.5 lakh. The company aims to further expand this to 2.5 million rooms by 2023.”
This, he said, will help OYO climb the ladder to become the “world’s top player from number three now”.
OYO has over 13 thousand franchised and leased hotels and over 4.5 lakh rooms, while globally adding approximately 64 thousand rooms every month. In India, they have over 8.7 thousand leased and franchised hotels and more than 1.64 lakh rooms.
According to the company’s RoC filings, OYO attained the unicorn status in September 2018 following a round of investment in which the company raised $800 million. The round was led by SoftBank Investment Advisors through SoftBank Vision Fund and the participation of pre-existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia and Green Oaks Capital.
