BENGALURU: Hospitality firm OYO Rooms on Tuesday said it has raised $1 billion (about Rs 7,280 crore) in its latest funding round led by its major stakeholder SoftBank, eyeing to scale up international business.
The homegrown start-up, which has already earlier raised $800 million, has received a commitment of $200 million from the Japanese funding agency, taking the total capital it received to $1 billion.
According to a statement from the company, its latest funding round was attended by SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA) through SoftBank Vision Fund, along with OYO’s existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia and Greenoaks Capital.
“We have already started expanding our presence to newer segments with OYO Home, OYO Townhouse and, more recently, Palette Resorts. We will continue to explore newer businesses while remaining focused on both organic and inorganic growth,” said Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO, OYO Rooms.
The company plans to utilise the fresh capital raised to fund its international expansion plans and also to strengthen its markets in India and China. It will direct approximately $600 million from the present round of financing into strengthening its position in China.
Last week, OYO had announced its UK entry where it plans to invest £40 million. Apart from the UK, in the last 12 months, OYO had widened its international footprint to China, Malaysia, and Nepal.
“With this additional funding, we plan to rapidly scale our business in these countries, while continuing to invest further in technology and talent,” Agarwal said.
OYO founded in 2013, is one of the latest entrants of the unicorn club. It is currently present in over 350 cities with over 10,000 asset partners.